Mountaineers Advance to Central Mass Final

Nate Roy drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the top of the seventh to send the third-seeded Mountaineers (10-8) past the second-seed Knights (9-9) in a Central Mass Class A Semifinal at Tivnan Field at Lake Park. With the game tied 1-1 and two outs and no one on in the seventh, Caden Lane coaxed a walk, advanced to second and scored on Roy’s line drive single to left. St. Paul scored its only run four pitches into the bottom of the first following an Evan Walden double and a Jake LeFrancois single while the Mountaineers leveled the game in the fourth on a Sam Perry sacrifice fly. Wachusett starter Will McGrail settled in after the rocky start and yielded just two hits and did not allow a run over the next 6 2/3 innings before Brady Hughes closed the door with a strikeout to end the game. St. Paul starter Jake LeFrancois struck out seven and allowed just one earned run in a complete game effort and Walen was the game’s only repeat hitter. The Mountaineers, who had lost to the St. Peter Marian/St. Paul in their last three Central Mass meetings, will face the winner of tonight’s other semifinal between top-seeded Leominster and fourth-seeded Tantasqua back at Lake Park either Wednesday or Thursday.