By: Steve Watson, MBUA
Ashland @ Hudson
Wednesday July 10, 2019
7:00pm–Riverside Park
Preview
-Ashland: 10-0 overall, 6-0 road, outscoring opponents 70-14 (63-14 excluding 6/28 forfeit), team hasn’t allowed more than 4 runs in any game
-Hudson: 9-2, overall, 6-0 home, only losses are to Natick (4-2 on 6/19) and N. Chelmsford (9-4 on 7/08)
Today’s Zone 5 Schedule
Ashland @ Hudson 7:00
Billerica @ Natick 7:30
Make-Ups
-Ashland will make up their 06/14 home postponement vs Billerica on 07/14 at 4:00pm
Recent Series History
06/13/16 @ Hudson L 0-1
06/29/16 vs Hudson L 2-7
06/12/17 @ Hudson W 10-0
07/12/17 vs Hudson W 16-3 (started 6/27, suspended until 7/12)
06/18/18 @ Hudson W 9-0
07/10/18 vs Hudson L 1-2
-The two teams are both 3-3 against each other going back to 2016
-The teams last met one year ago tonight in Ashland, with Hudson taking home a 2-1 win
-Hudson was the only Zone 5 opponent to win in Ashland in 2018. No team has beat Ashland at home since Hudson did July 10 last year
Quite A Run
-Ashland was 1-10-1 entering play on 07/10/16. They are 45-15 since.
-Post 77 went 3-1 to finish 2016, 17-8 in 2017, 16-6 in 2018 and 9-0 so far in 2019.
Common Sense
-Zone 5 takes a break 4th of July week, having no games scheduled from July 3th to July 6th. -Quite the opposite of nearby Zone 4, which played games on July 3, 4, 5 & 6.
Up Next
-Ashland travels to Lowell tomorrow night in their road finale before ending their season with a 4 game homestand next week.
Alumni Update
-Shawn Babineau is pitching for the Worcester Bravehearts of the FCBL. He’s off to an excellent start: 5-0, 1.74 ERA, 31IP, 17H, 5BB, 36K. Last pitched 07/04 vs Nashua.
History Lesson
-Ashland has never won a State Championship but the following Zone 5 teams have:
Lowell 1936, 1991 & 2000
Medford 1939 & 1947
Natick 1983
Billerica 2012** (Intrastate Tourney held after National Bound Tourney, winner didn’t advance to Regionals in 2012 or 2013)
-Zone 5 is in the midst of an 18 year State Championship drought
-The Zone 5 representative in the State Tournament will be saddled with the 10:00am matchup on Day 1 (July 27)
-Zone 5’s lone Massachusetts Legion Baseball “Graduate Of The Year” recipient was Head Umpire Tom Clews in 2017. The award was established in 1990.
