By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The Whalers bats fell silent Friday in the preliminary round of the Division III South postseason tournament, as visiting Marian beat the varsity baseball team 10-1.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Baseball playoff action Friday May 27 in the Div.3 South first round against Marian. |
Eighteenth-seeded Marian went on to defeat second-seeded Sturgis in the first round of the tournament 7-2 Saturday to earn a trip to the quarterfinals.
The Whalers, who came into the playoffs as the 15th seed, finished the season 10-8.
After breaking out a well-balanced offensive attack midway through the season to streak to a 10-3 record, the Whalers’ offense struggled against the stronger part of the schedule and in the playoffs, ultimately dropping their final five games.
Marian finished the regular season 11-9 overall and fifth out of seven teams in the split-division Catholic Central Division I league.
“We had to bring our A game and we knew that. I think when you face better pitching, and basically the last half of the season we faced better pitching, it is going to be tougher on the bats,” head coach Art Crowley said.
Marian ace Chris McKenzie kept the Nantucket bats quiet with a fastball topping out at 90 miles per hour, allowing only three hits, while striking out 14 batters. Chris Welch had two hits and Tomas Smaliorius added one.
“There is not much you can do if you aren’t hitting the ball. That bunt game is a tough game to play when you are down four runs. You can’t be sacrificing the outs. You have got to be within a couple of runs to play it. After that you have to start hitting the ball. You can’t take too many chances on the basepaths because you can’t be running into outs,” Crowley said.
Eric Lowell took the mound for the Whalers and scattered nine hits and three walks. The junior hurler was responsible for all 10 runs, six of which were earned. Chris Welch came on in relief in the fifth inning and closed out the game with two innings of shutout ball.
The Mustangs scored first on two errors and a ground-out in the top of the first inning. The Whalers managed to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Smaliorius reached on a catcher’s interference call, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Spencer, to third on a passed ball and scored on a dropped third strike play at first base.
But that would be all the Whalers would get. Welch singled and moved to third on two pick-off-attempt errors by McKenzie, but was stranded with the final out of the inning. Nantucket did not get another baserunner until Welch singled again in the sixth inning.
Meanwhile, Marian loaded up the runs, batting through the order twice in the game. In the third inning the first two batters singled and scored. The Mustangs capitalized on three walks and an error to post four runs in the inning. They added one in the fourth when Tim Gazard reached on an infield hit and scored on a single by Chris LeBlanc to take the 6-1 lead.
Marian broke the game open with four runs in the fifth. Three Nantucket errors put runners on base in front of LeBlanc and Tommy Ducey, who each knocked RBI singles to put the game out of reach.
The Whalers will graduate seven seniors from this year’s team including Smaliorius, Spencer, Evan Hourihan, Erik Hughes, Jamie Reid, Brian Reis and Anthony Valero.
“These seniors were fantastic leaders. They led by example. They were hard workers. The example these seniors left for these younger guys is going to help us out 10-fold in the future,” Crowley said.
The Whalers will return three regular starters to next year’s team – Welch, Lowell and Michael Molta. All three led Nantucket on the mound this season as well as shuffling around the infield.
“We are very strong in the pitching area, but it’s definitely going to be a rebuilding year. You do what you have to do. There are some talented young guys with the JV and then a handful in the eighth grade that might have to step up as freshmen next year,” Crowley said.
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