Newport
O’Brien did his bit in the nightcap at Claremont’s Barnes Park as well, tossing six innings of five-hit ball in an 11-5 Stevens win for a sweep of the twinbill. Four Cardinals contributed at least two hits each in the second game as Stevens improved to 5-4 on the season.
They may be midseason games, but the doubleheader nonetheless could be a factor down the road with 20 of the 27 teams in the division making the postseason. Going into Wednesday’s games, the Cardinals were hovering around the 20th spot — fresh off a win over Mascoma on Tuesday — while Newport was 23rd.
Spaulding walked three batters in the first inning as Newport scored three times and tacked on another run in the second. But the right-hander shut the door the rest of the way to get the complete-game victory.
“I just had to calm down and find the strike zone,” Spaulding said. “I have a tendency to speed things up.”
He ended up throwing 91 pitches in winning his five-hitter. He struck out three and walked eight.
O’Brien had RBIs in three different innings, capped by a two-run double in the seventh as Stevens tacked on three more runs to put a lock on the game.
“I was disciplined in staying back in the box and looking for a good pitch,” O’Brien said.
Newport junior hurler Dylan McNamara was touched for two unearned runs early, then Stevens started measuring his pitches. The Cards got getting nine hits while Newport’s defense committed five errors in the opener.
What Newport needed was some offense and some spark after the first couple of innings.
“We haven’t been hitting all that well all season,” first-year coach Jon Hamel said. “To make matters worse we went flat later on.”
Hamel tried to get the Tigers out of their lull in the sixth with Newport trailing by just 6-4. Twice Hamel sent baserunners from first on steal attempts, and each time Stevens freshman catcher Henri Bourque cut down the runners.
“I was just trying to manufacture something,” Hamel said.
Stevens took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Spaulding was hit by a pitch and Drew Grenier singled. Both runners swiped a base, Newport produced two errors, and a run-producing single from O’Brien capped the frame.
Newport answered with three runs in the home half. Kyle Fish walked and Noah Wade singled to start the inning, Fish eventually scoring on Dawson Campbell’s fielder’s choice, Campbell tallying on an infield out and the third run coming home on McNamara’s base hit. Newport got a run on a passed ball in the second, but that ended the Newport offense for the day.
Meanwhile, Stevens got three runs in the fourth on RBI singles from Login Barry and Brendan Bean along with an infield out.
O’Brien fanned six and walked five in the Barnes contest, with Grenier finishing the seventh. Bourque went 3-for-4 to lead a Stevens assault that included a big 2-for-4, four-RBI performance from Ryan Napsey and two-hit games from Spaulding and Login.
Tied 3-3, Stevens scored three times in the fifth inning and four times more in the sixth to take control. Campbell, who took the game two loss, joined Tyler Hall in the two-hit department for Newport (1-8).