English’s Jaurel Melo and Luis Mejia aces in Division 5 quarterfinal victory over Hopedale

Jaurel Melo and Luis Mejia were nearly unhittable Sunday morning.

The English High tandem carried a combined no-hitter into the seventh inning before a one-out infield chopper broke up the bid.

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Mejia, a senior, immediately erased that base runner, inducing a game-ending 6-4-3 double play as the top-seeded Eagles cruised to a 10-0 victory over No. 9 Hopedale in a Division 5 quarterfinal.

English (17-7) will make its fourth consecutive semifinal appearance, facing No. 4 Drury (17-6) at a date, time, and location to be announced.

“This was probably the best game we’ve played all season,” said English coach Christian Ortiz.

Melo was perfect through four innings, but issued a leadoff walk in the fifth, raising pitch count to 54. Leading 7-0, Ortiz opted to pull Melo, keeping him eligible to pitch in a semifinal Wednesday.

“If we hadn’t scored, we would’ve rode on Melo,” Ortiz said. “Because the score was in our favor, we decided as a team that we would keep him for next game if necessary.”

Melo struck out nine of the 13 batters he faced, employing a wipeout slider that had Hopedale hitters waving at pitches well outside the zone.

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“That’s my favorite pitch right there,” said Melo. “Love that pitch.”

Mejia allowed one baserunner in three innings of relief. At the plate, he was 3 for 4 with an inside-the-park homer, a leadoff triple, and an RBI single.

“It was first pitch, so we smashed it,” Mejia said of his home run.

The Eagles tallied 14 hits and struck out only three times, scoring two runs in the second and fourth innings, and three in the third and fifth.

“They always put the ball in play, and today when they swung it, they happened to either find a gap or a situation where we got to advance the runner over,” said Ortiz. “Today was like a perfect scenario.”

Division 4 State

St. John Paul II 1, Millbury 0 — Senior righthander Brian Mancinelli dazzled with 13 strikeouts while tossing a four-hitter and junior Cash Finn delivered the game’s lone run with a single in the top of the seventh for the No. 5 Lions (17-5) in the quarterfinal win against reigning Division 4 champion Millbury.

Sophomore righty Ryan Nikiforow went the distance for the No. 4 Woolies (18-5) with seven strikeouts and seven hits against. In the seventh, freshman Luke Souza singled and scored on Finn’s base hit.

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Lenny Rowe contributed to this story.