Mustangs Erupt for 21 Runs-June 4, 1975

Demolish Lynn Tech

When it was over, both teams and the few spectators who stuck around agreed: the rain hadn’t come soon enough. A 21-0 baseball game is not a good baseball game, particularly when it’s not so much the hitting as the miscues that produce the runs. So, when rain finally ended Lynn Technical High School’s agony in the eighth inning yesterday, winning coach Pete Wall of Norwood High School just looked at the ground and shook his head. It had been a good and a bad day at the same time.

With the win, Norwood advanced to the semifinals of the Eastern Massachusetts Baseball Tournament. Rick Renwick had earned another win as well as performing well at the plate. Larry Brown was brilliant in short relief and home fans got to see it all. But it wasn’t a good baseball game. Norwood, playing alert, well-coached baseball, largely picked up on Lynn Tech errors and ineffective pitching.

“What can you say,” appraised Wall, watching the remaining fans scatter as the Mustangs gathered the team equipment.

What began as a competitive ball game began to crumble in the fourth inning and really fell apart in the sixth. Norwood scored twice in the fourth, three times in the fifth, and brought home 10 runs in the sixth inning.

“I thought Dave Johnson played a good game,” said Wall of his second baseman, who had three hits in five trips, scored four runs, and batted in two. “And Brown was excellent in relief,” he said.

Brown, Norwood’s leading pitcher this season, came in to pitch in the top of the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out the next two batters before going back to playing first base for the remainder of the game. Brown also hit a run-scoring triple during the afternoon’s offensive barrage.

Rick Renwick was another strong performer. The right-hander started on the mound and was effective for five innings. He also had three hits in three trips as well as scoring three runs. He was relieved by Brown before Bill Breen came in to finish the game.

Following the 10-run outburst in the sixth inning, Norwood added six more runs in the seventh. Altogether, 24 Mustangs made it to the plate in those two combined innings.

Wall didn’t say much about the contest or about Norwood’s next tournament hurdle, a contest with Durfee High School at Brandeis University on Thursday.

“We’ve scouted them. But we won’t change anything. In baseball, you don’t change things for different opponents. Larry Brown will go against them,” said the coach.

If the Mustangs make it past Durfee, they will play the winner of the Brockton–Braintree game in the finals for the Eastern Massachusetts title.