The Somerville Alibrandis maintain a tenuous lead in the Ted Williams division.

By Benjamin Klein

Despite having their winning streak snapped, the Somerville Alibrandis have won five of their last six games and now hold a slim lead in the Ted Williams division.

Somerville was riding a three-game win streak going into last week but ran into the East Boston Knights. The Knights defeated the Alibrandis 5-2 earlier in the month and nearly three weeks later, East Boston was able to win again, 8-5.

Chris Foundas, who has been one of Somerville’s best pitchers this season, was given a two-run lead going into the bottom of the third inning but couldn’t contain the East Boston offense. The Knights would score four times in the inning and another four runs in the sixth inning. Down 8-2, Somerville put together a three-run rally but couldn’t squeeze three more runs to extend the game.

Foundas picked up his first loss of the season and the Somerville bats just couldn’t muster much off of the East Boston pitching. Somerville was just 5-for-25 at the plate and could only come up with five runs despite drawing 10 walks.

The Alibrandis made sure they wouldn’t lose two games in a row, defeating the South End Astros the next night, 9-6. Somerville got out to a 6-3 lead going into the fourth inning, but the Astros would score three in the inning to tie the game. The Alibrandis struck for three runs in the sixth to take home the victory.

Somerville’s offense was powered by Marc DesRoches who had two hits, scored three times and drove in two runs. Brian Tanguy picked up the win in relief while Jay Wisner finished the final two innings, earning the save.

There was an onslaught of scoring in Somerville’s most recent game, defeating the Brighton Minutemen 17-8. After Brighton took an 8-5 lead going into the four inning, Somerville got the bats going and scored eight times. They would add another run in the sixth and three more in the seventh to take a commanding lead.

Every Somerville starter had a hit and all but one player scored at least once. Mike Maguire scored four times for the Alibrandis while Bobby Barrett went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.

After starting pitcher Bryant Guilmette exited the game in the middle of the third inning, the bullpen was lights out. The combination of Ryan Cosmopulos, Sean Sullivan and DesRoches allowed just one unearned run in 4.2 innings of work while striking out five batters.

Somerville now leads the Ted Williams division at 9-4, two games ahead of the Malden Bulldogs in the loss column.