The Somerville Alibrandis are bouncing back and looking to overcome division rivals, the Malden Bulldogs. – Photo by Benjamin Klein

By Benjamin Klein

The Somerville Alibrandis got back to their winning ways recently, taking their last three match-ups. Strong pitching has been a major factor for Somerville the entire season and continued throughout the week to keep the Alibrandis in second place in the Ted Williams division.

Somerville started their eventual three-game win streak with a 6-1 victory over the Stoneham Sabers. Mark Addesa helped the Alibrandis get on the board early with his second home run of the season that was a part of a three-run inning. Bryant Guilmette pitched well with the early lead and went five scoreless innings, picking up his second win of 2012.

The Alibrandis would tack on three runs in the fifth inning to give themselves a comfortable 6-0 lead. Stoneham would score once in the last half of the seventh but Brian Tanguy was able to shut the door and preserve the victory for Somerville.

Two days later Somerville would earn another win, this time against the Savin Hill Hornets behind a great performance by Chris Foundas. Somerville would score once in the third inning and twice in the fifth to give themselves a 3-1 lead. Addesa would drive in two of the three Somerville runs, scoring Mike Maguire both times.

Foundas pitched a complete game, allowing just one unearned run and striking out 13 to pick up his third win of the season. He has only allowed one earned run in 24.2 innings of work while striking out 35 batters this season.

Guilmette would get the start in Somerville’s third game of the week, trying to earn his third win in as many starts. His offense would give him two runs in the first inning and three runs in the third inning to work with. Guilmette would allow four runs over five innings, walking four and striking out three in the process.

Leading 5-4 in the top of the seventh, the Alibrandis would add an insurance run that would prove to be very important. After a scoreless inning of relief from Ryan Cosmopulos, Marc DesRoches came in to try and preserve the two-run lead. McKay Club would get a run off of him but he eventually got the final out and Somerville came away with their third win in a row.

Somerville received some exciting news off of the field during the week as well, as pitcher Rob Finneran was selected in the 37th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Finneran had appeared in two games for Somerville this year, striking out six without allowing a hit in 4.1 innings.

The 7-3 Alibrandis will play four games in the next seven days as they try to derail the 8-4 Malden Bulldogs from top spot in the division.