White River Junction
Not that the Nighthawks aren’t one of the best teams in the NECBL. They’ve proved as much in the summer’s first few weeks. But Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Southern Division-leading Ocean State Waves (15-4) at Maxfield Sports Complex continued their season-long crutch of not finding offense when they need it most, finishing with only five hits in a battle of NECBL division leaders.
Rust and some bad weather certainly didn’t help. Monday’s game was the Nighthawks’ first since Thursday following a span of only two games in seven days after two rainouts and three scheduled days off.
“I think a lot of it had to do with the consecutive off days we had,” said head coach Jason Szafarski, who’s team committed two errors in the loss. “We were swinging it well last week. Early on, we were hitting balls hard, right at guys. We didn’t have anything to show for it. That kind of took the wind out of our sails. Their bullpen did an exceptional job, coming in in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. They mowed us down.
“Guys were swinging and missing when they normally don’t,” Szafarski added. “I haven’t really seen that much. … Balls we were hitting before, today we weren’t. That has to do with them not seeing live pitching, not being to get into the batting cages, things like that.”
Added Upper Valley outfielder Adam Chase, who hit his second home run in the season in the fifth inning to tie the game, 2-2: “It was weird. … Like, I feel like we hadn’t played a game in forever. You kind of lose your timing in there. For the most part, I thought we swung the bats decently well, made good solid contact. It’ll come.”
Upper Valley (13-6) is scheduled to play six games in six days this week, starting at 1 p.m. this afternoon in a matinee contest against the Keene Swamp Bats at Maxfield in a make-up game from Saturday.
The Nighthawks entered the game outscoring opponents 41-10 in their last three home games, twice scoring 15 runs. Hitting seems contagious for this Upper Valley squad. But the ability to reach deep into that bag and find an extra gear is not a skill these Nighthawks have mastered yet.
It reared its head in a 4-1 loss on the road against the Valley Blue Sox on June 22, Joe DeRosa’s last start before going 5⅓ innings on Monday for his third loss of the summer. Upper Valley’s offense went silent in that game outside of a Ryan Jeffers solo home run. Monday’s loss was deja vu.
Chase said Upper Valley’s offensive production has largely been based on its confidence to score in bunches, a trait that was diminished on Monday. But even against the NECBL’s top competition, Szafarski has his team preaching patience.
“I would say, even with the Valley game and this game, I feel like we’ve had our chances and we couldn’t capitalize when we needed to,” Chase said. “Baseball is hard enough. You never know who’s going to come up in that moment.”
Upper Valley got its first hit in the fourth inning on a line drive single by Jeffers. It was Jeffers’ first game in five days after being ejected from Wednesday’s 12-2 win over the Sanford Mainers; he was suspended for Thursday’s 11-0 win over the North Adams SteepleCats.
Matt Guidry broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single into center field, driving in Jeffers from third.
Waves’ Brian Moskey answered in the top of the fifth, sending a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run bomb — his first of the summer. Chase hit his first home run in seven games in the bottom fifth to tie the game, 2-2.
Ocean State took the lead for good in the top sixth off another two-run homer by Chris Wright, then added an insurance run in the seventh.
DeRosa was pulled with one out in the sixth inning after giving up five hits, four runs and one walk with five strikeouts in his first start since the Valley game. Will Carnley, Sean Frontzak, Cory Gill and Mike Coss each made short appearances in relief, as Szafarski held his bullpen cards close with a heavy schedule on the horizon.
“I think we just came out flat,” Szafarski said. “We had opportunities. We gave them a couple of big innings. We had a couple of miscues defensively. (Shortstop Matt) Sanders had an uncharacteristic error. … Just little things like that. They’re a good ball club. You can’t give them more outs than they deserve.”
Charlie Sheehan is scheduled to start this afternoon versus the Swamp Bats (9-10), who will travel to Maxfield on a three-game winning streak. Sheehan is 1-1 this summer with a 6.92 ERA in two starts, his latest a 7-3 loss to the Winnipesaukee Muskrats on June 21.
Notes: Former Nighthawks head coach Nick Cenatiempo made an appearance at Maxfield on Monday, taking in the sights with Nighthawks general manager Noah Crane behind the home dugout for much of the game. Cenatiempo accepted the head coaching job at Saint Anselm College in early June, forcing him to step aside from the Nighthawks to focus on the new gig. … The top of the sixth inning was delayed after kids involved in the “Race the Nighthawk” race down the first base line turned left and raced the length of the outfield. They were ushered off the field near the Nighthawks dugout before play continued. … Upper Valley featured new sponsorship patches for Upper Valley Produce on the right sleeve of their uniforms. … Announced attendance was 493.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.