TURNER'S FALLS — Tied 4-4 after seven innings, extra time was needed to decide the winner between Franklin Tech University and the Athol baseball team on Monday.
Both teams had runners on third base in the eighth inning, but it was the Bears who broke through in the ninth.
Mark Gould's spectacular bunt scored Hunter Smith and gave Athol a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning. Ethan Hoyer and Alex LaVine's base hits scored two runs, and Andrew Robinson's sacrifice fly gave the Bears an 8-4 lead. Athol shut out Tech under the frame and cruised to an 8-4 Bi-County North victory.
“I'm so proud of our players,” Bears coach Josh Talbot said. “We had a pretty big disappointment over the holidays. We had a few days off and we looked like that. We looked like a team today that has been practicing and working hard to get better.” This is a young group, and it's the first time I've seen them compete. They had some situations where things didn't go our way, and young, inexperienced teams can roll over sometimes, but we did. That's happened in the past as well. I'm impressed with this group's will to win. They're a mentally tough group.”
Logan Cormier took the mound in the seventh inning, with runners on second and third base, and the game was tied at 4-4. Cormier took two flyouts and the game was sent to extras.
In the eighth inning, Tech's Hunter Donahue singled and stole second. Talbot chose to intentionally walk the next batter, stealing second and then intentionally walking another batter to load the bases with one out. Undeterred, Cormier recorded a strikeout and a pop-out to close out the inning and send it to the ninth inning.
Cormier got three consecutive outs in the ninth inning, clinching the victory for Athol (2-2).
“We challenged Logan to be a leader on this team,” Talbot said. “He had a good day in the box, but we put him in some not-so-good pitching spots. I'm proud of him for being a competitor in those spots and lifting up his teammates.” I've been trying to be a leader since he was 14 years old, and I saw that today. I'm proud of him.”
It was the missed opportunities that hurt Franklin Tech (3-4). The Eagles left runners in scoring position in all five innings and were unable to make any big hits that could change the game.
“It's hard to win ball games if you can't make plays,” Franklin Tech coach Dan Prasol said. “Hats off to Athol. They did a great job. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot today.”
Franklin Tech took the lead in the first inning when Donahue scored on Kyle Begos' groundout. Cormier hit doubles to Dominic St. Andre and Raydin Souza to put the Bears ahead 2-1, and Athol answered with two runs in the top of the second inning to give the Bears the lead.
A missed pickoff allowed Tech's Gavin Crossman to score the tying goal in the third inning. Atol appeared to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when third baseman Alex LaVine hit a throw into the outfield, but LaVine and Souza scored, but interference from the batter wiped out the two runs.
Cormier hit a double in the fifth inning, and the ball he threw to steal third went into the outfield, giving the Bears a 3-2 lead.
Tech took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning with a double by Tucker Hicks and a single by Tyler Yetter. A cross man grounder scored Brody Hicks and the Eagles took a 4-3 lead going into the seventh.
In the seventh inning, Cormier's sac fly forced Souza into a corner, ultimately forcing him into extras.
Anthony Lopez pitched the first six innings for the Bears, recording seven strikeouts.
“He was great on the outside,” Talbot said of Lopez. “He's a very competitive kid. We wouldn't have made it to the game without him.”
Kayden Lehtomäki took the mound for Franklin Tech six times and had 11 strikeouts.
Frontier 3, Hopkins 1 – The Red Hawks, scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning, finally broke through against Hopkins Academy ace Bo Elson. Frontier scored three runs in the first inning and held off a comeback from the Golden Hawks in the top of the seventh inning for a 3-1 Suburban League West victory at South Deerfield on Monday. .
For the Redhawks, Rosco Palmer went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Wyatt Edes also had an RBI, and Nico Fasulo also had a hit to lead the way.
Frontier's Tyler Casson pitched six innings, striking out six, walking five, and allowing just three hits for the win. Max Skriviski-Banack got the final three outs and had two strikeouts.
Red Hawk manager Chris Williams said, “Casson defended his ace every inning.'' “Max's save got the team excited. Talk about someone stepping up and getting three big outs.”
Elson pitched a complete game against Hopkins, striking out eight and allowing just three hits. He also had two hits and one RBI at the plate.
Mohawk Trail 13, Smith Academy 3 — The Warriors got their first win of the season on Monday as Jackson Lilienthal and Grady Patenaud each hit two-run doubles to lead Mohawk Trail to a Bi-County North victory at Hatfield.
On the mound for the Warriors, Doug Wilcox had two hits and a double, and Logan Moore got the win.
Turner 9, Mahar 3 – The Thunder had an impressive win over the Orange on Monday as Alex Quesada had 12 strikeouts in five innings and took a 4-0 lead into the second inning.
Quesada allowed just one hit and gave up six walks in the win. He also hit a home run at the plate and paced the Turners Falls offense, where Jonathan Ainsworth and Kainen Stevens each had two hits and two RBIs.
Mahar closed the gap to 4-2 with a double in the bottom of the second inning, got a hit and an RBI from Matt Vitello, and scored a run on a walk by Sam Connors.
Hampshire 13, Greenfield 3 (6) — The Raiders blasted the Green Wave with seven extra-base hits in Westhampton on Monday in a Suburban League West game.
Michael Pierce had a hit and an RBI for Greenfield.
Pioneer 1 5, Easthampton 0 (5) — Hugh Cychowski's three hits and four RBIs helped the Panthers win the Suburban League West against the Eagles on Monday at Northfield.
Jackson Campbell had two hits and an RBI, Ben Warner had two hits, Jackson Glazier had a hit and three RBIs, Braden Czypenyuk had one hit and two RBIs, and Ethan Maute had a triple in the win. Glazier had 10 strikeouts and allowed two hits on the mound for the Pioneers.
