MacDougall leads Taunton baseball in bounce back win over Mansfield

TAUNTON — After falling to Hockomock League foes King Philip and Franklin last week, Taunton needed a bounce-back win and got just that Wednesday.

The Tigers took down Mansfield 6-0 in Hockomock League action to avenge their upset loss to the Hornets last month and improve to 14-3 overall.

“They played really well in all phases of the game," Taunton coach Blair Bourque said. "That’s a good team over there so we knew we were going to be in for a battle and it’s good to get on top first."

Ryan MacDougall led the way for the Tigers both on the mound and at the plate as he tossed five shutout innings giving up four hits and three walks while striking out two and going three-for-three with a pair of runs and RBIs each.

"Ryan pitched well and it’s good to see him come back from a rough start against Franklin," Bourque said. "I don’t think he had his best stuff today, but it’s good to see him stay there and battle and execute some of his pitches and trust his defense and they play really well behind him and they scored some runs for him today, so it’s a good team win."

MacDougall said he was just feeling good out on the field and was able to battle back on the mound.

"I felt good at the plate, I’m seeing the ball well," MacDougall said. "I got mostly fastballs today so that’s always nice and when I get a fastball that I like I make sure to always drive it and then on the mound, not my best outing but I got comfortable towards the end. The first two innings were a bit rough, (I threw) too many pitches but I got comfortable and trusted my defense as always."

After the loss to Franklin, which held Taunton to just a run for the first time all year, the win was even sweeter.

"It felt good," MacDougall said. "The Franklin loss was tough, it was hard to swallow but this one felt good."

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Mansfield started things off with back-to-back hits but the Tigers were able to quickly stop the bleeding as catcher Colby DeCouta caught Matthew DeShiro stealing second and Dawson Bryce threw out leadoff hitter Conner Zukowski at home to make it two outs and despite another single and walk, a groundout to Bryce at shortstop put an end to the top half of the inning and kept the Hornets scoreless.

Taunton struck first in the bottom half of the inning as MacDougall hit a deep double to left center and was driven in off a Bryce single to left the next at-bat to put the hosts up 1-0.

Mansfield started off the second with a single courtesy of Jared Fraone and had a second man on base thanks to a walk to Brian Butler, but were unable to capitalize on either opportunity, but also held the Tigers scoreless in the bottom half of the inning.

After sending down the Hornets in order to start the third, Bryce kicked off the bottom half of the inning with a big triple to deep right center followed by a MacDougall single to drive him in and double the lead. AJ Lewis drove MacDougall home with a double to left center and then came home himself two batters later thanks to a Shawn Cali RBI single to make it 4-0 Taunton.

"I just knew that offensively we were going to have to match it," MacDougall said. "Then for me on the mound, (I) just (needed to keep) throwing strikes and trying to get as many outs as possible."

MacDougall tossed another one-two-three inning in the fourth before being replaced by Colin Botelho in the fifth, who went a full inning giving up one hit before himself being replaced by Bryce who pitched the last inning giving up a walk while striking out one.

The Tigers added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth as a walk to Evan Cali and single by Sullivan were turned into runs courtesy of a pair of RBI singles by MacDougall and Lewis respectively, allowing Bryce to seal the deal as closer in the top of the seventh to keep Taunton perfect at home.

For Bourque, seeing his team bounce back the way they did and striking first offensively was a great sign.

"It’s really encouraging," Bourque said. "I told them today there’s going to be times where we need to battle from behind and we’ve got to face adversity and we’ve got to make sure that we can handle that and not get down on ourselves and they did a great job of executing today and making pitches and doing the little things moving guys over and coming up with big hits today."

In addition to MacDougall, Bourque praised several players for their contributions both Wednesday and throughout the year.

"We have a lot of guys that can contribute and I think it’s good to have some protection behind you," Bourque said. "(Sullivan) has done a great job and (DeCouta) has done a great job and (Bryce) has done a great job. Evan (Cali) is a leader on the team and kind of sets the table. He had a rough day at the plate today but he’s good at doing things that don’t show up in the scorebook as far as quality at-bats and making pitchers work and putting pressure on defenses."

The tournament-bound Tigers have three games remaining in the regular season, at home against New Bedford Thursday and then a home-and-home series with Milford next Monday and Wednesday and Bourque said he trusts in his team to finish strong.

"We've got three games left and we’re going to continue to try and get better and improve and make sure that we do the little things and not lose sight of our objective to be prepared and I trust our leadership to make sure that the guys are ready to go," Bourque said.

MacDougall couldn't agree more.

"I trust the guys as always and I think we’re going to be a good team going deep into the playoffs so I’m excited for it," MacDougall said.

Stats

Other than MacDougall, Taunton had solid outings from Sullivan, who went two-for-four with two runs, Lewis, who went two-for-four with a run and two RBIs, and Shawn Cali, who went two-for-three with an RBI.

Starter Aaron Blinn took the loss for Mansfield, going four innings giving up four runs, six hits and a pair of walks while striking out three and Colby Geddis pitched the remaining two innings giving up a pair of runs, five hits and a walk while striking out two.

At the plate, James Gilleran was the Hornets' best performer as he went two-for-three with a pair of singles while Zukowski's leadoff double to start the game was Mansfield's only extra base hit of the afternoon.

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: MacDougall leads Taunton baseball in bounce back win over Mansfield