Blue Sox win game one in walk-off, Game 2 at Minuteman Vocational Tonight at 7:00 PM

East Boston – Max Dushney’s two-out single in the bottom of the eighth scored Ben Leonard from second and delivered a game-one victory for Lexington in the semifinals against Middlesex.

Leonard started the winning rally by reaching on an error, the only one of the game. A sacrifice by Dom Gabardi moved him to second. After the second out Dushney delivered the walk-off win on the second pitch he saw from Expos starter Dan Shaw.

Jake Zawtsky won by pitching an inning in relief of Blue Sox starter Matt Draper. Zawatsky retired the first two batters he faced and then walked the next two. A wild pitch moved the go-ahead run to third putting the Expos ninety feet from taking the lead. Zawatsky reared back and struck out Idelson Taveras on a 3-2 pitch.

Draper pitched seven shutout innings, the longest outing for a Blue Sox pitcher this season. He scattered three hits and struck out six. Draper didn’t walk any Expos but did hit four batters. The righty finished second in the ICL with a 0.77 ERA and tied with Middlesex pitcher Louis Cespedes with a league-best six wins. Draper stranded six runners, including one in scoring position in the third and sixth (third base).

For Middlesex, Shaw was making his third start against the Blue Sox. He started both regular season games and had a tie and a loss. He went the distance, scattering four hits, giving up a run, unearned, walked two, and struck 11, six of them looking.  He left runners in scoring position in the first, second, fifth and seventh innings.

The only extra-base hit in the game was a two-out double by Lexington’s Anderson Jimenez.

This is the third meeting between these two teams in the postseason. In 2021 Lexington won its 16 ICL title by sweeping the Expos in the finals. In 2022 Middlesex won the title by defeating Lexington in four games. This is the first meeting in the semifinals between the two teams.

By Bruce Hack, Lexington Blue Sox Team Historian