West Canaan
If only Mascoma would stop hurting itself.
The Royals (0-3) committed six errors in Monday’s 10-3 loss to undefeated Fall Mountain (3-0) at Mascoma High in what has become a habitual issue for Mascoma’s offensively talented squad. Serviss, in his final year with the team before retirement, pointed to a frustrating mixture of inexperience and a lack of focus from his defensive unit as reason for the costly mistakes.
“We gave them eight of their runs,” Serviss said. “In our first game (on April 17), we gave up four errors in the first inning to the defending state champs, Monadnock. It’s very frustrating. Against Newport (on April 19), we gave them four of their runs.
“I think today it was focus more than anything,” he added.
Findley, the Royals’ starting pitcher on Monday, echoed his coach’s frustration after the game. Findley gave up eight hits and four walks in four innings of work. He also struck out two on 91 pitches and left the game with the Royals trailing 8-2 headed to the fifth inning.
“We’re just making the wrong errors,” Findley said. “Throwing the balls away. … We’re playing good, it’s just the errors that are killing us right now.
“I feel like it’s a confidence thing,” he added. “We’re not really confident with our throws. … As a pitcher, it can be (frustrating).”
Tyler Warner gave up two walks and an unearned run in 1⅔ innings of relief for the Royals. Micah McCullough pitched the final 1⅓ and gave up a first-pitch home run to Fall Mountain sophomore Koltin Stetson in the seventh.
Wildcats starter Justin Beauregard allowed 10 hits and struck out four Mascoma batters in a complete-game effort.
Offense has not been a problem for the Royals this season, although they left nine runners on base against the Wildcats. Junior Ethan Brueckner finished the game with three hits, an RBI and a run scored for Mascoma, and teammate Wyatt Wheeler scored once and had two hits.
“Offense is not the issue,” Serviss said. “It’s the little things.”
The Wildcats’ offense, on the other hand, did most of its damage early. Fall Mountain scored two runs in the first inning and three in the second to establish a commanding lead.
Fall Mountain added three runs in the fourth off of two wild pitches from Findley and an errant throw to first that skipped out of play, building an 8-1 lead that Mascoma erase.
Serviss was asked what he can do to help the Royals cut down on errors.
“If I knew an answer to that, I’d probably be with the Red Sox or the Yankees,” he said. “I don’t mean to sound obnoxious, but I just don’t know. … We’re not the only one having this problem. It’s something that I’ve seen in the last three or four years, teams struggling with that focus. The top six or seven teams in the division don’t have that problem.”
A win, Serviss admitted, would change everything for his group. Victories have become a lot more valuable in NHIAA Division III now that only 12 of 22 teams are slated to make the postseason. The longer Mascoma goes winless, the smaller its margin for error becomes.
“We have to start winning now,” Serviss said.
Mascoma goes for its first victory on the road against Stevens today at 4 p.m.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.