By Josh Weinreb
Laconia, n.h.
Layne gave up a home run in the ninth inning and walked his first two batters faced, but was otherwise perfect as the Seton Hall sophomore earned the save in a 4-1 win over the Winnipesaukee Muskrats on Thursday, the Hakws’ fourth in five games.
Eight days after his Nighthawks debut, in which Layne gave up two runs in Upper Valley’s season opener, a 2-0 loss a Vermont, the right-handed pitcher was waiting eagerly for a chance to redeem himself.
“(This was) a lot better,” Layne said. “Same thing, I came out a little too fired up and A.J. (Walden, Upper Valley’s catcher) came out and said, ‘Listen, your stuff is good enough. Take a deep breath. Take a little longer.’ I like to work at a fast pace, but maybe I was working a little too fast.
“I just settled down. I found my groove, found out what worked. A.J. did a great job calling pitches.”
It didn’t start out the way he wanted. After entering the game in the seventh inning, Layne, showing some nervous energy once again, threw four straight balls to walk his first batter faced, Winnipesaukee’s Ryan Steckl, and hit the Muskrats’ Anthony Godino three pitches later to put runners on first and second. Layne watched Kansas State’s Nick Jones, a sidearm specialist, warming up in the bullpen, just in case.
“After the first two batters, I saw he (coach Nick Cenatiempo) sent (Jones) down to the bullpen,” Layne said. “I just said, ‘You know what? Sometimes it’s just time to bear down, take a deep breath and do what you know how to do. I appreciate (Cenatiempo) letting me battle through.”
Layne retired the next eight Muskrat batters.
“I was extremely happy with him, based on the fact that he made adjustments after he walked and hit a guy. He settled in,” Cenatiempo said. “He came back down to Earth a little bit. He trusted his stuff and he pitched with confidence.
“All of that comes with experience,” he added. “It comes with the more you pitch and the more you pitch at this level. He’ll be fine.”
The Nighthawks, with the short fences at Winnipesaukee’s field, were powered by the home run. The University of Houston’s Grayson Padgett, tied for second in the NECBL with a .450 batting average through five games, cracked the first home run in Nighthawks history in the fourth inning over the left field fence.
Saint Louis University’s James Morisano, playing at designated hitter on Thursday, added to the barrage with a home run of his own to center field two batters later. It was only Morisano’s second hit this season in 15 at-bats. Walden added another home run as the leadoff batter in the sixth inning, putting the Nighthawks up, 3-0.
“In batting practice, we were hitting a ton of dingers,” Cenatiempo said. “I was almost at the point where I was going to ban home runs in BP, but I said, ‘Eh,’ and I let it go. We did a great job, we really did.”
Alex Hanson, returning to the ninth spot in the lineup after batting leadoff Wednesday in a 4-3 loss at New Bedford, had two hits and drove home the Nighthawks’ fourth run in the eighth. Hanson hit a deep shot into right center field for an RBI double that allowed Morisano to score from second base.
“I thought Hanson played really well,” Cenatiempo said. “A two-out RBI double got us an insurance run, a couple of great plays in the outfield. He’s good. He’s playing well.
“He does (look more comfortable in the ninth lineup spot). That was me experimenting.”
Sean Breen, the Nighthawks’ second baseman, batted leadoff Thursday and was 0-for-5.
Starting pitcher Cordes Baker, from the University of South Carolina Lancaster, threw four scoreless innings and earned the win in his Nighthawks debut, allowing one hit and recording three strikeouts. Cincinnati’s Jarod Yoakam entered the game in the fifth, throwing a strikeout and allowing two hits and a walk in two innings of work.
“(Baker was) excellent. He was very good. I’m impressed with him,” Cenatiempo said. “He pounded the strike zone with all his pitches. He worked quick, he was efficient. He was great.”
The Nighthawks are 4-2 through their first six games, second behind the Keene Swamp Bats (5-1) for first place in the NECBL’s Northern Division.
Upper Valley has a big stretch of Northern Division games through Sunday, starting tonight with La Salle’s Luke Reilly on the mound versus North Adams tonight at the Maxfield Sports Complex. Game time is 6:30 p.m.
Notes: Layne, who gave up a home run in the ninth inning to Winnipesaukee’s Anthony Godino, was one strike away from going three scoreless innings. “This is probably a jayvee high school field,” he said of Robbie Mills Field. “This is tiny.” … Cenatiempo said the experience of playing at Winnipesaukee, where he coached for the past two summers, was “weird. It was really weird.” … Reilly will make his first appearance on the mound for Upper Valley since throwing four scoreless innings in the Nighthawks’ debut at Vermont. … Seton Hall’s Dylan Verdonk will start on Saturday versus. Sanford and Iona College’s Bill Maier will start on Sunday.