By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Utilizing a well-rested pitching staff and getting some timely hitting, the varsity baseball team won three straight games this week and qualified for the postseason tournament for the second straight season.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Evan Hourihan lays down a bunt in the third inning to drive in a key run against Blue Hills Monday. |
The Whalers edged Chatham at home Tuesday 5-4 in a steady rain after defeating Blue Hills Monday 14-8 to clinch the tournament berth. Nantucket also beat Sturgis 6-1 last Wednesday.
The Whalers improved to 10-3 on the season with four games remaining on the schedule to line up their pitching staff and seeding for the playoffs.
Nantucket was scheduled to travel to Westport yesterday, too late for this edition of Sports, and will play Westport again this afternoon at a neutral site. The Whalers are scheduled to play make-up games against Mashpee Friday and Martha’s Vineyard Saturday, both at home before tournament seedings are announced Monday.
The Whalers officially qualified for the postseason tournament with the home victory over Blue Hills on Monday. With only the one game against Sturgis in the previous two weeks, the Whalers had the entire pitching staff well-rested and ready to go.
“We used (the break) wisely. We rested the pitching staff and they had good practices,” head coach Art Crowley said. “We did a lot of batting, a lot of instruction on details.”
Against Chatham at home Tuesday, the bats weren’t connecting. Instead, the Whalers converted two safety-squeeze plays including a bunt laid down by Evan Hourihan in the sixth inning to score Brian Reis with the game-winning run. Reis’ single to leadoff the inning was his second of the game.
“I can’t get more satisfaction out of winning a ball game, than the way we did today. Our execution was near perfect,” Crowley said.
The Blue Devils had multiple runners on base in the first two innings against Tomas Smaliorius, but managed only three runs. The Whalers evened the score in the bottom of the second on three walks, two bunt plays and a sacrifice fly.
Jamie Reid pushed in the go-ahead run in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded walk. The Whalers lost the opportunity to take the lead when a botched squeeze play cut down Erik Hughes at the plate.
“We were sitting in two bases loaded situations and we come up with one run. That’s not easy,” Crowley said.
Chris Welch came on in relief in the third inning and kept the Blue Devils off the board until the fifth inning. Chatham plated one run to tie the game before Eric Lowell took the mound and shut the door for the final 2.3 innings, allowing the Whalers to take the win.
“Welch and Lowell were fantastic. Two days in a row Welch was a key element to this thing, more so (against Chatham) than (against Blue Hills). He was very effective and Lowell again was lights out,” Crowley said.
Against Blue Hills Monday, the Whalers went up against a team that handed them one of their three losses so far this season.
“We were able to show the pitching staff a little bit. We went into today’s game and we knew it was a must-win. We didn’t care about the rest of the week, everyone was available,” Crowley said.
Michael Molta got the start on the mound and pitched the first two innings, striking out three batters, while allowing seven hits including a home run in a five-run second inning for Blue Hills.
The Whalers pulled back in front in the bottom of the second inning with five runs of their own. Welch singled and scored on a two-run single from Hourihan with the infield pulled in. Molta and Lowell added RBI hits in the inning to put the Whalers on top.
Welch came on in relief in the third inning and allowed two more runs to cross for Blue Hills as the Warriors pulled even at 7-7. But Nantucket again battled back, posting another five-spot on the scoreboard highlighted by an RBI bunt from Hourihan (3-for-4, 3 RBI), an RBI double from Smaliorius (2-for-4, 3 RBI) and an RBI single from Adam Spencer (4-for-4, 2 RBI).
Lowell took the mound with one out in the fourth inning and immediately shut down the Warriors, inducing the double play and striking out the next six batters to close the game in a shortened six innings.
Smaliorius put the game out of reach with a blast over the left-field fence, scoring behind Lowell on the two-run shot.
The Whalers struggled to produce any offense against Sturgis last Wednesday, but still managed to emerge on top.
“Our bats were just dead,” Crowley said.
The Whalers were held hitless by Sturgis ace Arthur Bosen for the first three innings before Molta ignited the offense with a hit in the fourth. Spencer had the big hit with a two-run double in the inning to stake the Whalers to the lead.
Sturgis responded with one in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 2-1, which held until the sixth.
Molta and Smaliorius set the plate with singles in the sixth inning for Hughes, who knocked the RBI double to give the Whalers some breathing room.
Welch earned the victory on the mound pitching the first four innings allowing only the one run while striking out one.
JV Baseball
The junior varsity baseball team struggled in its first live action since May 6, in a home loss to Chatham 14-4 Tuesday.
“We have not played in a while because of the weather and the weather was a big factor today,” head coach Dennis Caron said of the steady rain.
The Blue Devils capitalized on wild pitching from the Whalers staff, scoring four runs on six walks in the fourth inning and six runs on five walks in the fifth inning to break open the lead.
The Whalers stayed close early with three runs in the first two innings to keep the score at 4-3. Garry Caruso drove in one run with a ground-out, while the additional two runs scored on wild pitches. Hunter Slade and Tim Marsh had the only two hits in the game for the Whalers.
Nantucket fell to 1-6 with scheduled games at South Shore Voke today, at home against Mashpee Friday and at home against Martha’s Vineyard Saturday to close out the season.
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