A trip to Cooperstown, N.Y. yielded a disappointing result on the field Friday night for the Greenfield High School baseball team.
Playing on historic Doubleday Field in the shadows of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Green Wave offense was unable to get much going against South Hadley High School hurler David Adams. Greenfield managed just three hits, as Adams struck out four and walked one in a complete game effort to lead the Tigers to a 4-1 Hampshire League West win.
“We just didn’t hit the ball,” explained Greenfield coach Tom Suchanek. “And when we did hit it, we hit it right at them and they made all the plays.”
South Hadley (4-8 overall, 2-3 HL West) got on the board with single runs in the first and third innings before tacking on a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 4-0 advantage.
Greenfield (8-5, 2-3) scored its lone run in the seventh, using an error and a wild pitch to get on the board. The Wave couldn’t muster enough offense to pull closer, however, as Hunter Campbell (double), Jake Suhl and Nate Haselton had the lone hits of the night.
“We weren’t happy with the way we played,” admitted Suchanek.
Greenfield ace Joel Peabody took the loss, striking out three and walking four in 3 2/3 innings of action. Campbell came on to finish things out, striking out three over 2 1/3 innings.
The teams were able to play a few extra innings after the official game ended on Doubleday Field, which Suchanek said was a good experience to get some reserves into the action and give them some at-bats.
“They were excited about being able to do that,” the coach explained.
Greenfield will tour the Hall of Fame today before returning home. The Wave next play on the road Tuesday against Frontier Regional School.
Frontier 24, Belchertown 7 (5 inn.) — One inning into Friday’s Hampshire League West game against Belchertown High School, the Frontier baseball team thought it was going to be in for quite a battle. Trailing 3-2 after an eventful opening frame, the Red Hawks turned things around in a big way.
Frontier scored eight times in the top of the second, poured on nine more runs in the fourth, and five in the fifth to turn the tides and blast past Belchertown, 24-7, in a five-inning run-shortened contest in Belchertown.
“After those first couple innings, I thought it was going to be a dogfight,” admitted Frontier coach Chris Williams.
Frontier (11-1, 5-1) led 10-3 before the Orioles cut the deficit to 10-7 in the home half of the second. It remained that way until the fourth, when the Hawks tallied nine times to take a commanding 19-7 advantage.
“We hit the ball today,” offered Williams. “That was our goal coming into this game. We took a lot of reps to prepare coming off getting no-hit (by Hopkins Academy on Wednesday). That was a tough pill to swallow. The guys went out and performed today like I know they should.”
Matt Hildreth came on in relief and slowed the Belchertown offense down. Over four innings, Hildreth struck out three and walked one to earn the victory.
At the plate, Kiernan Freeman had four hits and four RBI, while Kalen Evans and Dylan Apanell had three hits apiece and combined for six RBI. Cam Barnes and Ben Arnold each totaled two hits and three RBI in the win, while Alec Jordan smacked a solo home run.
Easthampton 1, Athol 0 — A combined 26 strikeouts between starting pitchers certainly made for quite a duel Friday. Host Athol High School was unable to push anything across offensively, however, and Easthampton High School held on for a 1-0 Hampshire League East victory.
Easthampton (7-4, 4-1), which now leads the East by one full game with the win, scored its lone run in the top of the first inning. Zack Kugler drove in Lance Parrish with a single, staking the visitors to an early 1-0 advantage that somehow held up for the full seven innings.
That’s because Easthampton starter Dawson Wolcott scattered four hits in a complete-game shutout on the mound. Wolcott struck out 13 and walked just one in the impressive outing.
Athol (5-7, 2-3) also received an outstanding performance on the mound from Mark Ferrari. The sophomore worked around six walks over seven innings, allowing just four hits — all singles — and matching Wolcott’s strikeout total of 13.
Nick Bousquet had two of Athol’s four hits, including a double, with Robbie Nelson and Joey Lehtomaki adding singles.
FC Tech 19, Duggan 0 (5) — Franklin County Technical School scored 10 times in the first inning and Max Leh earned his first career varsity victory as the Eagles dismantled Duggan Academy, 19-0, in a Tri-County League South Division baseball game Friday afternoon in Turners Falls.
The Eagles (7-6) now sit three wins away from clinching the team’s first playoff berth since 2012. Franklin Tech also sits tied for second place in the TCL South, one game back of first-place Westfield Vocational Technical Academy.
Franklin Tech jumped on Duggan starter Elvis Rodriguez in the bottom of the first inning and knocked the pitcher from the game after he registered just two outs. The 10-run first inning was highlighted by a two-run triple from Sam Bobala, and a two-run single from Travis Cutting. Duggan reliever Julio Robles did not fare much better, giving up seven runs in the second inning and two more in the third. Sim Maniatty hit a bases-loaded triple in the second inning, and Dan Momaney hit a solo home run. The Eagles finished with 12 hits on the day, much to the delight of coach Brian Winslow.
“It was great, they put the ball in play and got some extra-base hits,” Winslow said. “It was nice to see them hit the ball this well.”
Maniatty finished with a double, triple and four RBIs to pace the offense, while Leh and Momaney each had two hits and one RBI. Nate Pelletier and Bobala each had one hit and two RBIs, and Cutting had one hit and three RBIs.
The support was plenty enough for Leh, who struck out 10 and allowed just two hits and one walk over five innings to earn the shutout and his first career varsity win.
“Max was awesome,” Winslow said. “He was right around the plate the whole game and was mixing his pitches well. For a kid to get his first varsity win, it was a good way to do it. We supported him early and kept going, so it was nice.”
Ryan Nagron had both hits for Duggan.