Seekonk Baseball Off to Hot Start at 3-0

Mental errors plagued Seekonk's varsity baseball game at Case High School in Swansea Friday, resulting in the first loss of the season. In the sixth inning, John Balasco took off for second base on a ball hit directly over his head, only to be doubled off when the ball was caught.

Jack Kane was picked off second base in the seventh inning. These two base running errors were some of the many miscues that caused the team to lose 5-0 to Case and fall to 3-1 on the season.

"We let the frustration set in and that doesn't help. We made mistakes again today," said coach Joe Demelo after the loss. "It's just a bad day. Everybody's going to have one, this was our bad day."

The loss soils Seekonk's perfect record, but the team is still in a good position to pick up a playoff spot this season. At 3-1 with 12 games to play, Seekonk only needs to win five more games to enter the second season.

Still on the schedule for Seekonk are Apponequet, Dighton-Rehoboth and Fairhaven, the three wins the Warriors have already pocketed. The remainder of Seekonk's games are against the rest of the South Coast Conference, including the Case team that beat them Friday.

So far, things are going approximately as planned for the Seekonk squad. Matt Foley and Kane are hitting for some power in the middle of the lineup. They have not had the men on base in front of them that they will likely see as the season goes on. John Balasco has been a pleasant surprise offensively, hitting 4 for 10 on the young season and driving in three runs.

Going forward, if Demelo can do something to get the top three hitters going in front of the mashers, Seekonk's offensive output could be prolific. Seekonk needs a spark from leadoff hitter Justin Carvalho, who has great speed but is hitting only .143 in the early going.

On the pitching side, Demelo will be running Branden George and Ryan Corry out for starts whenever they are rested. Kane and Foley have been pitching in relief. In cases when Seekonk needs a third starter, Daniel Silva and Jesse Archambault will be used in some combination.

Both pitched in the loss at Case on Friday, with Silva starting and taking the loss. "Dan pitched fine. It was his first time out, he was a little nervous, you could tell, but I think he pitched fine," said Demelo after the game.

Seekonk will play three games again next week, with a trip to Old Rochester and visits from Bourne and Wareham. Coach Demelo said that his team needs to bounce back on Monday. "We've got three games next week and not a lot of time to practice."