Nam shuts out St. Mark’s in season finale

Groton closed out its season in style with a 7-0 victory over rival St. Mark’s behind a complete game shutout from junior Josh Nam. Nam struck out 8 batters while allowing only 5 hits and 2 walks, as St. Mark’s never got a runner past second base. The game was a pitcher’s duel into the middle innings, with Groton not picking up a baserunner until a hit by pitch and a walk in the fourth. St. Mark’s starting pitcher Scotti stranded those runners with his 9th strikeout, and the game remained scoreless into the 5th inning. Nick Beck led off the 5th with a line drive single for Groton’s first hit of the day, then advanced to second on a two-strike sacrifice bunt by Robbie Long. After a fly ball for the second out, Walker Smith came up with the play of the game, lining an RBI single down the right field line. Smith raced for second as the throw came in toward the plate; St. Mark’s cut the ball off and fired to second, but the throw skipped into left field, past both outfielders who had run in to back up. Smith tore around third dove in safely at the plate for a little league home run to put Groton up 2. The top of the lineup struck again for Groton in the 6th, as Luke Beckstein led off with a double and came around on Bennett Smith’s triple. Some clutch pitching for St. Mark’s shut off the possibility of more. In the bottom half, St. Mark’s had the makings of a rally, with back to back one out singles, but Nam induced his second double play grounder of the day to get out of it. St. Mark’s went to the pen for the 7th, and Groton kept the bats rolling. With one out, Walker Smith, Drew Burke, and Beckstein all singled, followed by booming doubles from Bennett Smith and Thomas Dempsey to plate four more runs and put the game out of reach. Beckstein and the Smith brothers were the offensive leaders for the Zebras; Beckstein was 2 for 3 with a double, 2 runs and an RBI, Bennett 2 for 4 with a double, triple, run, and 2 RBI, and a run, and Walker 2 for 3 with 2 runs and an RBI. Groton finishes the season with wins in their last three games and in five of their last six for an 11-6 overall record, 10-5 in the ISL. It was the last game at Groton for seniors Drew Burke (5 years on the varsity team), Bennett Smith (4 years), Shane Kim (4 years), and Walker Davey (1 year).