Frontier Regional School took advantage of late-inning wildness from South Hadley High School pitcher Nehemiah Wilson and the Red Hawks picked up a huge statement win to kick off the Hampshire League West Division slate with a 6-1 victory over the Tigers Friday afternoon at Valiton Field in South Deerfield.
The Hawks (6-2) also got a huge performance out of pitchers Ben Arnold and Dylan Apanell, who combined on a one-hitter to help Frontier finish off a perfect week that saw the team go 3-0. That one hit — a triple by Sean Doyle in the fourth inning — led to the only Tigers’ run of the day when Doyle scored on a passed ball.
After South Hadley (4-2) took the 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning, Frontier came back to score at least once in each of the next three frames, and each inning started out with a free pass. In the bottom of the fourth, Wilson started by hitting Connor Waitkus with a pitch and then walking Kyle Spencer. With one out, Bryce Jordan hit a dribbler up the first base line that Waitkus made an aggressive move on, charging home and diving in head first to beat the throw and tie the game.
“After South Hadley scored in the top of the fourth we called the guys together and said, ‘Let’s not lose this inning, we’ve got to manufacture a run,’” Frontier coach Chris Williams said.
Frontier took the lead in the fifth inning as Kalen Evans opened the inning by working a walk before Matt Hildreth singled. After two outs, Waitkus drove in the eventual game-winning run with an RBI double.
Frontier put the game out of reach in the sixth inning with four runs. Bryce Jordan walked and Cam Barnes reached on an error to start things off and both runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Kalen Evans then hit a grounder ot short and Jordan raced home, beating the throw. Barnes then scored the fourth run of the game on a passed ball. After an out, Seth Gewanter singled before Kade Gewanter hit an RBI single. Spencer then belted a two-out RBI double.
Apanell earned the win in relief with a huge effort in the fifth inning. With the score tied 1-1, Arnold walked the first two South Hadley hitters of the fifth and was relieved by Apanell, who got the first batter he faced to pop out to second, and then got the next batter (the South Hadley leadoff hitter) to strikeout. A catcher’s interference call loaded the bases, but Apanell got the third hitter in the order to ground out to end the frame. The win marked the second victory of the week for Apanell, a freshman who is seeing his first experience at the varsity level.
“To have a freshman pitcher come in late in the game in that situation and get out of it without giving up a run is as good as it gets,” Williams said. “I could not be more pleased with his pitching since he’s been up on varsity.”
Mohawk 7, Smith Academy 3 — Mohawk Trail Regional High School rallied to score five runs in the top of the seventh inning to secure a 7-3 comeback win against Smith Academy in HL East Division action Friday afternoon in Hatfield.
Trailing 3-2, Jordan Grenier started the rally with an infield single and, after advancing to third on a Seth Donovan double, scored on a fielders choice after an error by the Falcons’ catcher.
Warriors’ senior Adam Hallenback broke open a 3-3 tie with a single to left field that scored Donovan and Daniel Szafran to give Mohawk (6-2 overall, 1-0 East) a lead it would not relinquish. Two batters later, Chris Graves added an insurance run with an RBI single to left that scored Luke Veins. On the ensuing play, Matt Finck plated the Warriors’ seventh run after Smith Academy’s second baseman committed a throwing error to third that allowed him to score.
Grenier picked up the win in relief for Mohawk, tossing two scoreless innings after Hallenback allowed three runs through five innings, striking out seven while walking three.
Liam Pitrat went all seven innings for the Falcons (1-7, 0-1), surrendering nine hits while striking out three and walking two.
Smith Academy opened the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first before the Warriors answered with one in the second. Each team plated one run in the third.
Greenfield 12, Belchertown 2 — Zack Avery finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as Greenfield High School crushed Belchertown High School, 12-2, in a HL West Division baseball game Friday afternoon in Belchertown.
Avery has been one of the Green Wave’s most dangerous hitters all season and he did not let up on Friday as he had four of Greenfield’s 14 hits. Avery had two singles, a double and added a solo home run in the seventh inning, giving him two RBIs on the day.
Greenfield (6-1) scored seven times in the second inning to jump all over the Orioles (4-4) early. Nate Haselton hit a pair of doubles in the win, Colin Cloutier and Hunter Campbell each had a single, double and two RBIs, and Jake Suhl singled and plated a pair of runs. Tyler Townsley and Tyler Boissonneault each had a hit and an RBI.
Townsley picked up the win with six strikeouts and five walks in five innings of work. Haselton pitched two innings of scoreless relief.
Matthew Soja had two hits for Belchertown, and Jackson Leduc had a double and an RBI.
Mahar 3, Athol 0 — A gem of an outing from Sam Paul put Mahar Regional School back at the .500 mark for the season on Friday.
The junior hurled a beauty on the road against rival Athol High School. He went the distance, striking out seven and not walking a batter while scattering six hits — all singles — to lift the Senators to a 3-0 victory in a HL East contest.
Athol (3-4, 0-2 HL) freshman Nick Bousquet also pitched well in the loss. Bousquet went all seven innings, striking out eight and not walking a batter. Mahar managed seven hits against him.
The Senators (4-4, 2-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first, and they tacked on single runs in the fourth and seventh frames.
Zack Geyster paced the Mahar offense with two hits, including a double, while Athol’s Colby Mason paced his side with three hits on the afternoon.
Next up for Mahar is a road trip to Greenfield High School on Monday. Athol plays at Pioneer Valley Regional School on Tuesday.
Pioneer 6, Easthampton 3 — Pioneer used a balanced offensive attack and solid pitching from Elliot Mousseau and Jared Ackerman to double up Easthampton High School, 6-3, in a HL East game Friday afternoon in Easthampton.
The victory gives Pioneer (4-4) its fourth win of the season, the most wins the program has had in several seasons.
“Winning four games in a season hasn’t been done in five or six years, that kind of motivated us,” Pioneer coach Jordan Branson said.
Pioneer led 3-0 after three innings and took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. At that point, Easthampton started to get to Pioneer starter Mousseau, who wound up with three strikeouts and two walks in 5⅓ innings. Ackerman came on after the Eagles (1-7) had scored twice in the frame and slammed the door shut. He then pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the save.
Bryce Dobosz finished with two hits and two RBIs for Pioneer, while Mousseau also added two hits. Jacob Hubbard drove in two runs, Nic Williams had a hit and two RBIs, and Mike Menard doubled. Payton Doherty had a big game defensively at third base.
Dawson Wolcott suffered the loss, striking out six and walking four in seven innings. Lance Parrish had two doubles and drove in all three runs for the Eagles, and Wolcott had two hits.
Sci-Tech 10, FC Tech 5 — Springfield High School of Science and Technology erupted for nine runs through the first three innings to top Franklin County Technical School, 10-5, Friday afternoon in Springfield in Tri-County League action.
The Eagles (3-3, 2-2 TCL) scored four, two-out, runs in the top of the fifth inning, however, it wasn’t enough to overcome the slow start.
FC Tech’s Seth Aldrich went 2⅓ innings, however, defensive miscues rose his pitch count, which allowed the CyberCats (5-3, 2-3) to score once in first, twice in the second, and then six in the third to put the Eagles down 9-1 after three innings.
Hunter Sessions plated two runs in the fourth with a a single that capped off Franklin Tech’s best stretch of baseball on the afternoon.
“I was really proud of the kids,” Eagles coach Brian Winslow said. “We started taking a few pitches and waited for a pitch we knew we could drive.”
Nate Pelletier, Travis Cutting and Dakota Deane all drove in runs for the Eagles.