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Left: Anthony Mena pitching. Photo by Celine Hines. Center: Leighton Thomas , left, and Lachie Quate. Photo by Collin Hamilton. Right:  Cody Heselton. Photo by Celine Hines.

The vision for PSA’s baseball team this season was to ride the strength of its pitching staff and hope its lineup could come through with enough big hits to result in some wins.
Unfortunately for PSA, there weren’t enough of those big hits this past weekend, the last games of the Mustangs’ season.
Cody Heselton overcame a rough beginning in which he gave up three runs in the first two innings to finish with eight strikeouts over five innings while allowing four hits, but PSA left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings of a 3-2 loss Friday to Avon Old Farms, the top-ranked team in New England. Denzel Rincon and Ryan Ponte both had two hits in the loss.
Saturday, PSA fell behind 8-0 after just two innings and could never recover in a 9-3 loss to Paramount Academy in the opening game of the New England Baseball Championships. Rincon, Ponte, and Cris Peguero had two hits apiece for PSA.
Later Saturday, PSA’s Anthony Mena allowed just one run on one hit over six innings but King’s-Edgehill won it 2-1 on a walkoff against PSA’s bullpen in the seventh, resulting in a 2-1 season-ending loss. Robbie Natale had two hits and an RBI, while Heselton, Jeffry Ferreira, and Junior Mesa all singled for PSA.
PSA did pick up a win earlier in the week, beating King’s Edgehill 10-0 on Senior Day. Harry Roy threw five shutout innings in his final home start, striking out six and allowing just three hits. Roy went unbeaten in his last three starts of the season, holding opponents to eight hits and no runs while striking out 21 over 17 innings.
The middle of PSA’s lineup – Ponte, Mesa, Heselton, Enrique Diaz, and David Batista – combined for nine hits, five RBIs, and seven runs in the win. Dereck Barrada added two hits and two RBI for PSA.
PSA’s soccer teams both won their respective season-finales over the weekend, with the Elite team topping Hoosac 5-1 and the Prep team knocking off Vermont Academy 1-0.
Renan Mafra scored the game’s only goal Sunday as the Prep team won its fourth straight game and finished the Spring season at 9-3-2.
Saturday, Aiden Basabose recorded a hat trick and Assa Mora added two more goals as PSA won with a terrific all-around team performance. The Mustangs ended the Spring at 3-4-1.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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