Cambridge emerges from intense back-and-forth battle with Natick in Division 1 baseball tourney

CAMBRIDGE — In his eight years coaching Cambridge baseball, Robert Merrill has never seen a high school atmosphere like he did during the No. 8 Falcons’ 10-8 takedown of No. 9 Natick on Wednesday night in the second round of the Division 1 tournament.

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Cambridge (18-2) strode into the top of the sixth inning leading 7-4 before the Redhawks (16-6) surged into the lead via Alex Jacques’ three-run homer after Jack Weierman clobbered an RBI double to cut Natick’s deficit to two.

But the Falcons had no plans of quitting.

“We knew we had two more shots to answer,” said Merrill. “It’s an older group that doesn’t really panic, and I think we saw that.”

In the bottom of the frame, Ari Maslan hit a leadoff single before swiping second, and Josh Silber advanced Maslan to third with a single.

A blundered pick-off throw to first plated Maslan, tying the game at 8-8. Conor Brown and Hugo Davis followed with back-to-back walks to juice the bases, and Joel Rojas-Cruz, who finished 4 for 4, chopped a double down the third-base line to score two.

That 10-8 lead was not safe, however, as the Redhawks managed to load the bases in the top of the seventh. But closer Jasen Thomas induced a final groundout to seal the victory.

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“My blood pressure was through the roof,” Merrill said.

Cambridge posted four runs in the bottom of the first after Swarthmore-bound Oliver Henke (3 for 4, 2 homers, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) opened the frame with a triple.

Davis plated Henke, Logan Sherwood and Campbell Callahan recorded RBI singles, and Callahan scored on a throwing error.

After trading blows in the second to make it 5-1, Henke ripped a solo shot in the third to extend the Falcons’ lead to 6-1, but a three-run inning for the Redhawks, highlighted by Cam Gobeille’s RBI double, made it 6-4 going into the bottom of the fourth.

Henke gave Cambridge a three-run cushion with his second homer in the fifth, but after starter Stef Alexandrov (5 innings, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks, 6 hits, 4 runs) exited in the top of the sixth — Natick took the lead.

“All season, every time we’re down, we just know we have each other’s backs, and we trust each other in every single situation,” Henke said. “We know that we can come through when it’s needed most.”