By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
With a playoff berth wrapped up last week and in the most difficult stretch of its schedule, the baseball team lost four straight this week, including back-to-back games against tournament top-seed Westport and a home clash with Division II Martha’s Vineyard.
Nantucket traveled to Westport last Wednesday and fell 14-4, and followed that up with a well-played 4-3 10-inning loss at a neutral site on Thursday. Back at home against Mashpee Friday, the Whalers’ bats struggled as the Falcons ran away with the 11-4 win. The Vineyard blanked the Whalers 4-0 Saturday to close out the regular season.
“I look at these last four losses, I swear I am more confident now with these guys than before the week started. I don’t look at it as a negative. There is an awful lot of positive that came out of it,” head coach Art Crowley said, noting the pitching against the Vineyard and Westport in game two, and the solid defense in all four games.
The Whalers earned the 15th seed in the Division III South tournament and will host 18th-seeded Marian in the preliminary round of the playoffs Friday at 4:15 p.m. If the Whalers win they will travel to second-seeded Sturgis (9-3) on Saturday.
On Saturday at home Chris Welch kept the Vineyard (7-13) off the scoreboard for the first three innings, but on its second trip through the lineup, the visiting team struck with two big hits in the fourth. Nick Billingham led off the inning with a triple and following a walk, Billy Johnson doubled in two runs. Johnson later scored on an error for the 3-0 advantage.
Mike Molta took the mound in relief in the fourth inning and despite putting runners on base, kept the Whalers within striking distance.
Nantucket scattered six hits in the game and showed some aggression on the base paths, but had four runners cut down, including one at the plate.
“This was the tougher part of our schedule. Hitting is where we need to work and we ran into a lot of outs on the base paths. I am all for being aggressive and making the other team make the play. There is being aggressive and there is being foolish. We were being more aggressive than foolish,” Crowley said.
Evan Hourihan and Welch led the Whalers at the top of the lineup with two hits each. Tomas Smaliorius and Molta each got on base in the seventh as the Whalers threatened, but Zach Coutinho closed out the complete-game victory with three strikeouts.
Catcher Erik Hughes threw out two potential base-stealers in the game.
Mashpee took the trip to the island on Friday afternoon needing a win to advance to the postseason. The Falcons’ offense got to work with single runs in the second and third inning off Smaliorius, but broke away with a six-run fourth inning.
The Whalers scored twice in the fifth on an RBI double by Hourihan, who later scored on a passed ball.
Nantucket was coming off a 10-inning grinder the day before against Westport.
The Wildcats scored three times in the first inning, but Eric Lowell on the mound shut them down for the next eight innings.
“Eric Lowell was unbelievable. The first inning they scored three. He settled down after that he and was lights out. It was a turning point in his pitching career in terms of his confidence and his command on the mound. I think he emerged as our number one in that game,” Crowley said.
The Whalers responded with three runs in the second inning. Brian Reis, Hourihan and Welch all walked in front of Lowell, who hit a three-run triple to tie the game.
The Whalers had their chances to win the game, including a safety squeeze situation in the bottom of the sixth. Smaliorius laid down the bunt, but it was a little too close to the plate and the catcher was able to pick it up and tag out Hourihan trying to score.
In the tenth inning, Westport got a double and an RBI single to take the lead and the game.
Against Westport the day before, the Wildcats were much more dominant, scoring eight runs in the third inning to blow open the lead against Molta. Hughes highlighted the Whalers’ offense with a two-run triple in the sixth inning. Nantucket scored all four runs in that frame.
Westport is the top seed in the Division III South bracket with a final record of 17-3.
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