By Matt Feld (@Mattyfeld612)
Brookline, Mass. – Zack Friedman had been waiting for his ace in Jack Palowski to breakout. On Thursday afternoon, Palowski did just that.
On a humid Thursday afternoon Palowski threw six scoreless innings allowing just four hits while striking out 11 to guide Lexington to a 4-0 win over Middlesex League Liberty rival Reading at Parsons Field.
Palowski also helped himself out at the dish going 1-for-2 out of the number two spot in the order with a pair of RBIs.
The performance from Palowski could not have come at a better time for the Minutemen as a 2-1 loss to Woburn on Wednesday made a win on Thursday a must in order for Lexington to stay in the thick of the Middlesex League Liberty race.
“After yesterday I didn’t feel as much pressure as just a greater need to go out there and step up,” said Palowski. “With our defense I know I just have to pound the zone.”
Throughout the afternoon the tall left-hander kept the Rockets’ bats quiet through mostly his four-seam and two-seam fastball mix. Palowski also occasionally flashed a curveball and changeup. In all Palowski threw 103 pitches, 64 of which were strikes.
Madison Dina came on and pitched a perfect top of the seventh inning to seal the win.
“This was a big game for us today. Jack hasn’t been his best his last two starts but today he was just awesome,“ said Lexington coach Zack Friedman.
After Palowksi struck out the side in the top of the first, Lexington jumped out in front in the bottom half of the frame.
On a 2-2 offering Sal Frelick hit a booming fly ball to dead center for a leadoff triple. Palowski followed up by lining a sacrifice fly to right to make it 1-0 Minutemen.
One inning later the Minutemen doubled their advantage via the same two offensive sparkplugs. Frelick grounded a double into left center field and moments later Palowski singled to right to make it 2-0 Lexington.
“After you lose a game, if its 0-0 and you then get down you can sometimes get tight,” said Friedman. “I thought we were pretty lose though considering the circumstances and all of the guys really competed. This was a huge win for us.”
The Rockets best chance to score came in the top of the fourth. Ben Brungardt singled and later in the inning Matt Sannella walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Palowski, however, battled back and induced a weak ground ball to short before getting Ryan looking to get out of trouble.
Two innings later Lexington put the game out of reach as Mazdak Darvari lined a two-out, two-run single to make it 4-0 Minutemen.
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