White River Junction
Brennan’s fifth-inning, two-run home run proved to be the game-winner as the North Adams SteepleCats handed the Nighthawks their first loss at home this season, 3-1, Friday at the Maxfield Sports Complex.
North Adams cleanup hitter Ben Bengtson drove in the insurance run in the eighth inning, bringing home Nick Riotto from second base.
“That ball that went about 30 feet over the fence, I just hung a changeup,” Reilly said. “That’s just a bad pitch. … It was a high changeup. Alex is obviously a great center fielder, but you can’t really ask him to catch balls 30 feet over the fence.”
Upper Valley is 4-3 this season; the SteepleCats improved to 5-3.
Frustration settled in offensively for head coach Nick Cenatiempo and his team after the game, one in which the Nighthawks offense, he felt, could have had coming off a three-home run night at Winnipesaukee 24 hours earlier. Upper Valley scattered eight hits against SteepleCats pitchers, but could score only once, an RBI from designated hitter James Morisano in the fourth inning that brought Sean Breen home from second.
“Sometimes in baseball it works that way,” Cenatiempo said. “(North Adams starter Ben Olsen) picked us early off a straight steal … He read us, so we adjusted to more of a hit-and-run style. We didn’t execute the hit-and-run well. That’s why you saw our guys get thrown out.”
Morisano, batting .222 this season, led the way offensively with two hits. Upper Valley’s power hitters, Joey Denison and Grayson Padgett, were quiet with a combined 2-for-7 at the plate.
Reilly got his second start on the mound for the Nighthawks nine days after pitching in Upper Valley’s season opener against Vermont. Reilly, in front of an announced crowd of 527, pitched four scoreless innings, retiring eight straight batters before hitting Jean-Francois Garon with a pitch. He struck out the next batter to end the third inning.
“I felt really confident early,” he said. “I just felt really good with what I was doing.”
But Reilly started showing signs of fatigue in the fifth. Dustin Shirley, North Adams’ leadoff batter, laid a single into shallow left field, the second hit Reilly allowed. Two batters and one titanic home run later, the Nighthawks were down 2-0.
“Toward the end, I’m not sure if I have extended myself enough. It’s been a while,” Reilly said. “That inning just got to me, I just threw some bad pitches. That’s all it comes down to. I was getting away with a lot early on because my stuff was good. It just wasn’t, later.
“I was excited. It’s been a while. I think as the summer progresses I’ll do better deeper into games. I’m not a four-inning guy. … I know what I need to fix. I’ll be ready to go next time.”
Dakota Edwards, Nick Jones and Ryan Takacs entered the game in relief in order for the Nighthawks, combining for two strikeouts, three hits allowed and one earned run on 13 batters faced.
But Upper Valley’s biggest problem Friday was advancing runners. Joey Denison and Walker Grisanti, the Nighthawks’ newest addition from Vanderbilt, were both caught stealing second base. The Nighthawks stranded six runners.
“We’ve had a tough week with some travel,” Cenatiempo said. “We competed. … They did a really nice job of keeping us off-balance. They kept our hitters guessing, they kept moving the ball on us, their pitchers did a nice job.”
Dylan Verdonk, Seton Hall right-handed pitcher, gets the start on the mound as Upper Valley looks to bounce back tonight at Maxfield against the Sanford Mainers.
Notes: Grisanti arrived in the Upper Valley on Thursday night and was inserted into the Nighthawks lineup almost immediately. “I’m just trying to get back into baseball,” he said. “I think it’s big to get a lot of reps.” Walker batted sixth in the Nighthawks lineup, replacing St. Joseph’s infielder Charlie Concannon, who has struggled at the plate in his last 4-for-17 in his last four games with five strikeouts. … Matt Maul returned the lineup as the leadoff hitter for the Nighthawks after tweaking his back earlier this week. Maul was 0-for-4. Upper Valley is still looking for a consistent presence in the lead-off spot after Breen was 0-for-5 Thursday night vs. Winnipesaukee and Hanson was 0-for-3 on Wednesday against New Bedford.