By Matt Kotfila

HOLYOKE - Blue Sox RF Clay Burdette belted a no-doubt three run home run in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s matchup with the Schooners, which opened the floodgates for a Valley offensive explosion. 

Burdette’s big fly was followed by a Mike O’Conor two-run blast just two at-bats later. A ground out from Michael Elko brought in the sixth run of the inning, and Sebastian Mexico knocked in Andrew Loikits and Cade Carr on a triple.

In his second plate appearance of the inning, Burdette knocked a triple into right field, scoring Mexico and the ninth run of the side.

“Not missing on pitches we could drive,” said Blue Sox Head Coach Endy Morales of what contributed to the sixth inning scoring surgance. “I think ultimately our offense did exactly what I thought they could do.”

In a matchup where the Blue Sox set the tone offensively, Valley picked up hits from eight of nine batters in their starting lineup. Five of these players had multi-hit games, and two homered in a blowout 20-3 win over Mystic. 

“Hitting is contagious. One guy does it and it starts a chain,” said Morales.

“You don’t do that if you’re not a cohesive unit,” he continued. “One guy is coming off and he’s letting the next guy know what he’s seeing and what it looks like. They’re not taking selfish at-bats, they’re coming together as a team.”

Along with their sixth inning eruption, the Blue Sox added five runs in both the first three innings and seventh inning of Wednesday’s matchup. Morales noted his team's ability to keep their foot on the gas pedal regardless of the situation. 

“Something I’ve talked to them about is, ‘These are your numbers, your stats,’” said Morales. “Although numbers don’t always tell the whole story, in regards to where they’re trying to go, sometimes the numbers do help. So, regardless of [the situation] you still have a job to do at the plate.”

Burdette led Valley with five RBI and three hits. Loikits picked up five hits and an RBI. O’Conor and Mexico had multi-hit games, with Mexico adding three RBI to O’Conors’ 2 . 

Carr smacked two base hits, earned an RBI and came across the plate to score as a runner four times. Andrew Ciaglo, Rees Kozar, Nick Spaventa, Chris Walsh and Wyatt Hunt earned the other Blue Sox RBI. 

The Blue Sox pitching staff controlled the game from wire to wire. The team’s ace and 2024 NECBL All-Star Gregory Shaw once again completed a five inning outing, earning the win and allowing just one unearned run. 

The bullpen did their job, only giving up two Schooner runs. The staff as a whole struck out eight Mystic batters. Mystic threw six pitchers, allowing 20 hits. 

Kaiden Dossa had a two hit performance for the Schooners. Eric Cha, Anthony Belisario and Nick Locurto brought home the three Mystic runs. 

This game was Valley’s from start to finish, and the Blue Sox now lead the season series against Mystic 2-0. 

The Blue Sox will be hitting the road this weekend for Friday and Saturday games against the Newport Gulls and North Shore Navigators, respectively. They will then return to MacKenzie Stadium on Monday, June 16 for a meeting with the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. 

“First things first, good off day tomorrow to reset,” Morales said of the upcoming weekend trip. 

“The beauty about this league is there’s no hiding. We just got [beat] against Newport, and look where we’re going right now. I think that’s the challenge that I’m going to give to these guys. Enjoy the off day, but we just walked into their stadium and got embarrassed. So, we have to find a way to really step up and just focus on that day,” he added.

First pitch for the Gulls and Blue Sox matchup is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.