Orford
It worked again Monday afternoon as Whitchester won its fifth straight game, outlasting Rivendell, 2-1, at O’Brien Field, the first half of a home-and-home series against the Raptors that will conclude Wednesday at Rochester (Vt.) High. Mountaineer senior pitcher Matt Townsend amassed six strikeouts in seven innings for the win.
The Mountaineers have turned things around in a big way, particularly for a team that started 2-7 in its first nine games. Now back at .500, Whitchester (7-7) is looking for more.
“I think my blood pressure is a little higher now than at the start of the game,” said Mattrick with a smile. “That was a defensive battle, a pitchers’ duel. I think, for both teams, we were able to get (runners) on. … We both had guys on second and third, first and third. We just couldn’t get them in.”
Rivendell (4-9) entered the contest on a winning streak of its own, three straight late in a disappointing season for the Raptors. Sophomore pitcher Dashiel Fukushima recorded seven strikeouts, three times with Mountaineer runners on second and third.
Fukushima was able to work his way out of two straight jams in the fourth and fifth innings, but two earned runs in the sixth proved to be the difference.
“Dash pitched a really strong game,” Rivendell coach Eric Reichert said. “He’s a quality pitcher, but we as a team, when we see him fighting, we have to fight offensively. They know that, they know what that means and they started too late.”
Whitchester’s Ben Harvey opened the scoring in the top of the sixth, stealing home after a Fukushima wild pitch passed catcher Colin Gould. Kevin Kingsbury made it home off a ground out by Troy Walker to help the Mountaineers take a 2-0 lead.
“I think we just got the lucky break in that one inning,” Mattrick said.
Rivendell answered in the bottom of the seventh. Townsend walked the Raptors’ Wiatt Suich and gave up a single to Zach Gould before Fukushima hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Suich scored from third to cut the deficit to 2-1 with the tying run on second base. But Townsend cut the comeback short, recording his sixth strikeout by fanning the Raptors’ Charlie Bradley.
“Matt was great today,” Mattrick said. “He had a little trouble settling in in the first inning, threw nine balls in a row. We were getting a little worried. But once he settled in, that’s about his pitching style right there. He performs under pressure. He’ll get a guy on and then he’ll dig himself out of a hole. He was excellent.”
One year after upsetting No. 6 seeded Poultney in the first round of D-III Vermont state tournament, Reichert’s group has spent this season taking a step back to focus on fundamentals.
“We’ve had a problem all year with getting timely hits and leaving guys on base,” Reichert said. “They did it again today. They knew what pitch was coming; everyone on this team can hit a fastball. They didn’t step up, and that’s the difference between a win and a loss.
“They came out flat today; I could tell the way they were coming out on the field before the game. If they don’t load up their hands and attack the baseball as hitters, if they sit back, then we don’t hit well, and they know that.”
For Mattrick, who formerly coached baseball at Rochester before the Rockets and Whitcomb Hornets converged this year, .500 is about where he thought his team would be. But his team’s late-season surge has given Mattrick and the Mountaineers new life.
“We’d love to be one game over .500 (by season’s end),” Mattrick said. “I was for about .500 ball with all factors contributing. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t think we were going to get there.
“We’d like to make a move in the playoffs,” he added. “Once you get to the playoffs, it’s anybody’s guess. The worst team in the league could have a streak, the best team in the league could have an off day.”
Heading into the playoffs on a winning streak wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
Notes: Rivendell’s baseball caps don the letters “G.S.” on the back of their caps this season, memorializing Rivendell special education teacher and assistant baseball coach Gerry Suich, who passed away of a heart attack in November. Suich’s son, Wiatt, is a junior on this year’s Raptors squad. “He was an integral educator at our school,” Reichert said. “He loved baseball. … He lived the game of baseball and the one thing we talked about when we talked about Gerry Suich is that we were going to honor the game the way he approached it. (Suich) approached the job and the kids with respect. For our community, he was huge.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or at 603-727-3306.