Holyoke, Mass.
Concannon, the St. Joseph’s University product coming in as a pinch-hitter for St. Joseph’s teammate Matt Maul in the eighth inning, hit his first home run of the season and added to it with an RBI double in the top of the ninth inning to help the Upper Valley Nighthawks come from behind and force extra innings. But Valley’s Braxton Morris hit a walk-off, two run homer in the bottom of the 10th to give the Blue Sox a 6-4 win over the visiting Nighthawks.
“We showed a lot of fight tonight,” Nighthawks manager Nick Cenatiempo said. “We started off a little slow but we got into it. … We had some quality at-bats, hit some balls hard, got on base, drove some runs in when we needed to. We just came up a little short.”
The loss marked Upper Valley’s second to the Blue Sox (8-5) in six days. The Nighthawks (6-6) snapped a two-game winning streak.
For Concannon, who finished with two hits and two runs, Friday marked something of a bounce- back game for the West Chester, Pa., native, who hadn’t amassed multiple hits in a game since June 12 against Winnipesaukee and had spent most of this week in and out of the Nighthawks lineup.
“I felt pretty good at the plate. It worked out tonight,” Concannon said. “It felt good off the bat. … Baseball is up and down, you can’t get too caught up on anything, or else you’d be all over the place. … I definitely felt more comfortable tonight, wanted to keep my approach going.”
The Nighthawks started off slow Friday night, as defensive errors in the first inning allowed Valley to jump to a 2-0 lead. What’s worse, Upper Valley starter Luke Reilly left with a sore arm after the first inning, forcing Cenatiempo to change his pitching strategy.
“I battled through it and after the first (inning), I just felt like I couldn’t go on,” Reilly said. “I don’t think it was a serious thing, it was just really painful.”
“He’s a little sore,” Cenatiempo said. “We want to take care of these guys for precautionary reasons.”
Reilly, who has previously had Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm, was unsure of the severity of the La Salle lefty’s injury and how much time, if any, he might miss.
Upper Valley’s offense was generated by the middle and back end of its lineup, led by UNCW’s Zack Canada, batting in the sixth spot. He was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. A.J. Walden, batting seventh, finished with a double.
Maul, batting ninth, was 1-for-3 with two hits, an RBI and a run, and scored in the second inning to pull the Nighthawks to within 2-1. But Upper Valley’s offense was sporadic in the game’s middle innings, leaving eight runners on base.
The Blue Sox added runs in the third and sixth innings to add to a 4-1 lead. Texas State’s Wes Engle, who entered the game in relief of Reilly in the second inning, allowed five hits, two earned runs and three walks in four innings.
In the Nighthawks’ eighth, they had UNCW’s Brian Mims and Seton Hall’s Al Molina on first and third with one out and Upper Valley’s top hitters, Grayson Padgett (Houston) and Joey Denison (Troy), up to bat. Padgett, who finished the night 0-for-5, popped up to the Blue Sox shortstop and Denison struck out looking to end the rally.
In the ninth, with Canada and Walden on base, Concannon hit his RBI double into right field. Canada scored from first, but third base coach Matt Lynch held Walden at third. Concannon scored the tying run off an RBI single from Alex Hanson to tie the game.
Nighthawks closer Brian Lau pitched his best game of the summer. He pitched two scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks and recorded two strikeouts. Seton Hall’s Billy Layne entered the game in the 10th inning, but gave up Braxton Morris’ homer in the 10th and took the loss.
“Lau was out of gas,” Cenatiempo said, citing the team’s reluctance to use its closer over multiple innings.
Iona’s Bill Maier will get the start tonight at Maxfield Sports Complex as the Nighthawks look to get back into the win column at home against the Keene Swamp Bats.
Notes: The loss marked Upper Valley’s first in extra innings in team history. … Jarod Yoakam (Cincinnati) pitched two innings and allowed one hit, one walk and recorded one strikeout. … Valley’s top hitter, Travis Jones, was held to one hit and one run against Nighthawks pitchers. … Holyoke native Endy Morales earned the win for the Blue Sox.