Alibrandis is in second place in their summer baseball division. - Photo by Andrew Firestone

By Mike Rubin
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Even as thunderstorms canceled summer baseball, the Somerville Alibrandis built some momentum with a pair of wins last week.
After cruising to a 12-5 win over the McKay Club Beacons, Alibrandis rolled to an impressive 9-3 win over the South End Astros.
With two rainouts on Wednesday and Friday, Alibrandis stand at 14-5-1 and are locked in second place in the Bill Stewart Division.
“We’ve been playing a lot better baseball lately,” said coach Rob McDonough. “We feel like we’re just getting into a groove and everyone’s really stepping it up and getting that key hit. We need to keep it going as we head down the stretch into the season and move forward into the playoffs.”
After nearly a week’s absence from the diamond, the Albrandis battled back to an impressive 12-5 win over the McKay Club Beacons last Monday. Trailing 1-0, the Albirandis roared back and grabbed a 3-1 lead.
After the Beacons closed the gap to 3-2, the Alibrandis secured the win by scoring five runs over the next three innings en route to an 8-2 edge. Battling back, the Beacons rallied for two runs in the top of the sixth, cutting the lead to 8-4 before the Alibrandis secured the win with four in the bottom of the sixth.
On the mound, Sean Gildea earned the win, scattering eight hits while allowing just two earned runs while walking four and striking out six while Jon Morse and Jay Wisner each pitched an inning of relief.
“(Gildea) has been solid for us all season long, and he’s done a great job,” said McDonough. “He hung tough and fought through some things, and gave us a nice quality start. We had some great plays on defense as well and our relief pitching was outstanding.”
Offensively, Dave Scioli recorded three hits and three runs scored while Chad Conner, Anthony Tomaro, Tom McDonough and Bernie Driscoll each added a hit apiece. Also contributing was Marc DesRochers with a hit while Adjatay Nyadjroh scored three runs followed by Sal Mendonca’s two hit performance. Extra base hits in the win for the Alibrandis included Scioli, Conner, Driscoll and DesRochers, who all added doubles.
In Thursday’s match-up against the South End Astros, the Alibrandis roared off to a 6-0 lead before prevailing in a 9-3 decision. On the mound, Chris Foundas earned his second win of the season while allowing two runs on just three hits while walking three and striking out five. In relief, Dave Fioretti and Jay Wisner each fired an inning of relief.
Offensively, Scioli recorded another three hit performance while Tom McDonough and DesRoches each added two hits and two RBIs apiece. Also contributing was Pat Noble, Driscol, Michael O’Connor and Nyadjroh, who each added a hit apiece.
“(Scioli) has been on fire at the plate for us,” said McDonough. “He’s been hitting the ball well and we’ve been doing a great job hitting for power and for contact. We got off to an early lead and the guys never really looked back. We had a lot of guys contribute offensively for us.”