Sunapee
It’s a plan that, on Friday, helped his Lakers survive a nastier baseball equation: Walks equal runs.
Developing junior reliever Keir Lucas, the last of three Sunapee pitchers, tossed a perfect seventh inning to lock down a 10-8 win over Pittsfield at Memorial Field. His efforts became necessary when Frederick’s two other hurlers on the day, Cole Cruz and Ben Robinson, displayed tiredness associated with the increased number of innings both have been throwing in recent weeks.
The Lakers (7-1), seeking their fifth trip to the NHIAA Division IV final in six years, used Pittsfield’s pitching largess to build a 7-0 lead after two innings. Sunapee’s own generosity opened the door for the Panthers (5-6) to chip away at the disadvantage until Lucas slammed the door shut under an increasingly gray sky.
“I look at it that we have Cole, Willy (Austin) and Ben; they’re all kind of aces,” Frederick said afterward. “They’re 1-2-3; you can switch them on any given day. Cole has thrown a one-hitter, a no-hitter. Willy has thrown big games for us. Ben’s obviously always thrown big games for us; he struck out 10 against Pittsfield last time.
“Now Keir threw strikes out there, so that was big. We’re lucky; I think we have three aces, and we’re building one now. Our goal is to always have at least two in the pen.”
Lucas needed just 14 pitches to retire Pittsfield in the seventh. It took a lot of other tosses, from both teams, to get to that point.
Sunapee jumped on Pittsfield starter Kyle Stockman, rapping six hits to go with four walks and a hit batter to start what first looked like a rout. Mike Platt dropped a bloop double to open the home first, advancing on a wild pitch and scoring when an Austin grounder slipped under the glove of Panther third baseman Casey Clark. An RBI Hank Vincent infield single and back-to-back RBI walks produced a 4-0 lead.
Lucas singled home a run and Will Palin knocked home two more in the second for that 7-0 cushion. That would have been enough on any other day had Cruz — looking visibly uncomfortable on the mound — not struggled with his control, walking seven in 2 innings.
“We’ve got to fix the mound; there’s a big hole in there,” Frederick said. “Ben was having trouble with it, too. We’ve got to put some clay to it and really tamp it down so that it’s not turning into a rut. Guys are losing their feet out there, and the ball’s going high.”
Pittsfield scored five runs in the third to cut Cruz’s start short. A bases-loaded walk to Stockman got the visitors on the board; when Frederick brought Robinson to the bump, the Panthers’ Devin Bedell greeted him with a ringing, sacks-clearing double to the left-center fence, to which Kyle Hamel added an RBI single to close to within 7-5.
Robinson also had his difficulties, allowing four earned runs over 3 innings, but the senior righty had enough in the tank to prevent any more big Pittsfield assaults.
“We fell a little flat right after we put quite a few runs on the board,” Robinson said. “I think that’s when we really fell asleep. They’re a quality team, and they came right back.”
Even on days when the pitching is off, the Lakers can at least count on their offense and defense.
Sunapee greeted Pittsfield reliever Bedell with a three-run third, Robinson’s RBI triple to right-center field serving as the foundation that rebuilt the lead. Robinson, Cruz and Lucas combined on a nifty 1-6-3 double play to end the top of the fourth, Lucas making a nice backhanded dig at first base to close the frame.
Second baseman Cade Robinson teamed with older brother Ben to retire Bedell on a bad-hop grounder to open the fifth. Third baseman Platt’s running throw on a Stockman grounder kicked off the seventh, and Lucas ended it with back-to-back strikeouts.
“Hitting really saves us,” Ben Robinson said. “We’ve been doing that for really almost every single game, which gives a ton of help to the pitchers if they don’t have their A1 stuff.”
It came in handy on Friday. And Lucas’ clean close showed that Sunapee can count on other arms when the scoreboard math calls for help.
“If Keir can continue on that and we get some of the freshmen and sophomores to pitch like they should be able to,” Frederick said, “we should be in a good situation.”
Fungoes: Sunapee amassed 10 hits on three Pittsfield pitchers. Cade Robinson had two as the only Laker with multiple hits. Sunapee had at least one base hit from each spot in its lineup. … Frederick said Austin was unavailable to pitch because he’d thrown six innings in a 4-1 win over Newport on Tuesday. … Palin had a game-high three RBIs for the Lakers. … Noah McGlashing kept the Panthers in the game by holding Sunapee hitless over the final two innings. He also walked his first three trips to the plate for Pittsfield, which had just five hits but received nine free passes. … Ben Robinson took two for the team — pitches, that is — off the right side of his body as part of his five at-bats for the day. The senior, a three-year member of the Lebanon Post 22 American Legion baseball program, plans to play baseball at Bentley University next year. … Sunapee visits Newport on Monday. This past Wednesday’s rained-out date with Hinsdale has been rescheduled for 10:30 a.m. on May 14 at at Sunapee High.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.