Patriots tally 15 runs to take home opener

  After dropping its first two games of the 2023 season, the Revere High School baseball team looked to be in danger of suffering a third consecutive loss in Monday’s home opener against the Medford Mustangs. The Patriots fell behind by a 5-1 score entering the bottom of the third inning and the situation looked ominous.

  But the storyline took a drastic turn in Revere’s favor when senior Mike Popp belted a solo home run over the left field fence to make it a 5-2 game. That blast to lead off the bottom of the third seemed to ignite the host Patriots, who went on to erupt for six more runs in the frame. The outburst gave Revere an 8-5 lead it would not relinquish in an eventual 15-5 runaway victory.

  Medford scored three times in the first inning and twice more in its half of the third to build the early 5-1 advantage but would not cross the plate again. The Patriots countered with a run in the bottom of the first on Chris Cassidy’s RBI single.

  The Patriots had another big inning in the fifth when they brought across five runs. They added two more in the sixth to close out the scoring. Kyle Cummings also joined Popp in the home run department, as he went deep.

  The third-inning rally was helped along by some shaky fielding from the visiting Mustangs, and the Patriots took advantage. It was the second high-scoring effort by Revere this spring, as the Patriots were coming off a 10-9 loss at Lynn English late last week.

  Several Patriot players had multiple hit performances in the Medford win, including Popp, Chris Cecca, Cassidy, Ollie Svendsen, Cummings and Andrew Leone. Cummings was the starting pitcher and hurled six innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out six to notch the win.

  On Tuesday, Revere was back on the road and dropped a tough 5-4 extra-inning affair to Cambridge Rindge & Latin. Head Coach Mike Manning praised the overall performance of his squad despite the defeat, calling it “probably our most complete game of the year so far.” He also cited starting pitcher Cassidy for his “gutsy effort.”

  The Patriots fell to 1-3 overall with Tuesday’s loss. They played again on Wednesday when they hosted Chelsea and are off until next Monday (Patriots’ Day), when they travel to Malden for a 10 a.m. tilt.