A four-run bottom of the second inning was the story, as host Turners Falls High School won its second game in as many days with a 5-3 victory over Hopkins Academy in a Hampshire League West baseball game under the lights at the Bourdeau Fields Complex on Thursday night.
Turners, which beat Athol High School on Wednesday, took a 4-0 lead with a big second inning. Riding starting pitcher Quinn Doyle and a strong defense, the Powertown never relinquished the advantage. Doyle struck out seven and walked just one, scattering 13 hits en route to the victory, and Turners didn’t commit an error in the victory.
“He got out of it when he needed to,” lauded Turners coach Scott Minckler of Doyle. “The defense helped him tonight. We mentioned before we needed to strive for no mistakes and we came out of it with no errors. That was huge tonight.”
Tionne Brown had two of Turners’ five hits, including a triple and an RBI, while Ryan Campbell, Kyle Bergmann and Dom Carme all had singles. Bergmann and Carme drove in runs on the night.
“We finally got a couple hits, Tionne came through with a timely hit,” Minckler said. “We made them pay for their mistakes in that inning (fourth). It was a big inning for us. We haven’t scored four runs in an inning this year.”
Since losing to Mount Greylock Regional School, 14-0, on April 18, Turners has won three of its last four games. The blue and white are now 2-0 in Division IV games this season, meaning one more win against D-IV teams will be enough to get them into the postseason thanks to the 70-percent rule that states if you play 70-percent of your league games against teams in higher divisions, you need just a .500 record or better against teams from your own division to qualify for the tournament.
“I think that the Mt. Greylock game, where they absolutely smoked us, was kind of a wake up for us,” Minckler said. “The kids are buying in a little bit. We didn’t get many hits today, but we are getting timely enough hits. We need to get those runs home when we get opportunities.”
Hopkins fell to 3-4, 0-1 in the HL with the loss.
Turners (5-3, 1-0 HL) will get a chance for that postseason-clinching win on Monday night, when Franklin County Technical School comes to Bourdeau Fields for another night game at 7.
Pioneer 13, Smith Voke 0 — A fast start and sound defense made for a strong combination, as Pioneer Valley Regional School cruised to a 13-0 win over Smith Vocational & Agricultural High School in an independent baseball game Thursday in Northampton.
Pioneer (3-4) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, chasing Smith Voke starter William Mollison from the game after he recorded just one out. The Panthers batted around in the first, and the team wound up with 13 hits on the day.
“We tried to get the guys to have a different approach than (Wednesday, a 6-0 loss to Frontier Regional School) with all of our first-pitch swinging outs from that game,” Pioneer coach Jordan Branson said. “We worked some walks, got some quality at-bats. We batted nine guys in the first inning and knocked their pitcher out, so we gave ourselves a good headstart.”
Senior Elliot Mousseau paced the offense with four hits, including a double, and a pair of RBI. Nate Comiskey, who started and got the win thanks to four shutout innings of work, added two hits, as did Jordan Loughman. Jacob Hubbard drove in three runs in the win.
Cody Letourneau tossed the final three innings, closing out the shutout for the Panthers. Bryce Dobosz added a highlight-reel, straight steal of home in the top of the first inning.
Hunter Brooks led Smith Voke (3-3) with three hits, including two doubles.