PSA’s baseball team should’ve saved some of those hits and runs for later in the weekend.
After winning a mercy-rule shortened 17-0 laugher over Kents Hill in its regular-season final Saturday morning, the Mustangs lost 11-8 to Paramount Academy in a semifinal game of the Tri-State Wood Bat Championships later in the day, then fell 5-1 in the consolation game against MacDuffie Sunday.
Things started well in both games Saturday, as Elian Torrez drove in three runs with a double to right center and Alberto Cantalini had a bases-loaded triple to stake PSA to an 8-0 lead after two innings in the first game.
Ryan Hines (three hits, four RBI) blooped a two-run single in the third for a 10-0 lead, before Torrez, Junior Mesa, Dereck La Riva, Eric Ruan, Hines again, and Jesus Fermin all delivered run-scoring hits in a seven-run fourth inning.
Lucas Bertram was the beneficiary of all the run support, as he struck out a school record 11 over five innings for the win.
A few hours later, Chris Almanzar homered on the first pitch of the game to jumpstart a five-run first inning, but PSA couldn’t hold on as some shaky defense led to its downfall against Paramount.
Omar Burgos had three hits and three RBI, and Elian Torrez finished with three hits in the loss.
Jacob Hines struck out seven batters in 4 2/3 innings.
Sunday, PSA’s bats couldn’t muster enough scoring chances to support Harry Roy in its final game of the season.
Junior Mesa drove in the Mustangs’ lone run with a second-inning single.
Roy pitched well, giving up a lot of soft contact that found safe landing spots early in the game then falling victim to an error that led to two runs.
PSA finished its inaugural return season with a very respectable 13-12 record and set the stage for the program to continue growing into one of the premier programs in New England.
“There’s not a lot to say about the game,” coach Bob Hetu told the team afterward. “We made some key errors, they scored five runs, and we scored one.
“We played some really good baseball at times this season, and we played really average baseball at times too. But we’re learning. Grow from your mistakes, grow from challenges. I’m proud of this team.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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