Upper Valley Nighthawks starting pitcher Ashton Raines, from Bloomsburg University, got to the Maxfield Sports Complex earlier than his teammates ahead of Friday’s game against the Valley Blue Sox — much earlier than usual for a pitcher scheduled to start later that night. For hours, he groomed the field, fixed its mound, painted its lines and made sure it was suitable to play on. When he finally took the mound hours later, Raines had a new appreciation for the home turf he was defending.
“I’m actually employed by the Hartford Recreation Department,” Raines said after giving up only one run in six innings in Friday’s 7-2 win over the Blue Sox.
“Before I got here, I was kind of like, ‘I’m not going to make any money.’ I usually work during the summer. I asked Noah (Crane, Nighthawks general manager) if he could hook me up with a job. He said, ‘Do you want to take care of the field?’ I said sure.”
Field maintenance, Raines admitted, is not exactly something he’s done before. He picked up some tips growing up; his father, also his coach, would bring Raines along when he went out to take care of the field before a game. Other than that, he said, it’s not something he’s ever done before.
“I put a lot of work into the mound and stuff,” he said. “I come out here every day. This is probably more my home than my host family I’m living at. It definitely feels like my own field.”
A Mass of Multitaskers: Some of the Nighthawks shuffled their roles during Wednesday’s game against the North Adams SteepleCats at Maxfield, a 3-1 victory in which Pace University starter Danny Wirchansky gave up no hits and struck out five through 8⅓ innings.
Marist pitcher Mike Coss traded a baseball glove for a radio microphone, joining Brett Franklin from WTSL/WTSV radio as an analyst. Wagner outfielder Anthony Godino, given a rare day off, took over bat boy duties. Pitchers Raines, Cory Gill (Troy) and David Sampson (Plymouth State) took part in a water balloon toss with Nighthawks fans in attendance.
Godino got the most ribbing from his teammates, receiving an ovation when he went out to retrieve loose bats and elbow protectors. At one point Adam Chase, Upper Valley’s outfielder from Franklin Pierce, thought Godino was moving too slow, reminding him in jest to pick up the pace.
“That was actually my first time being a bat boy,” Godino said on Friday. “I’m usually on the field. … Probably the hardest thing, I’d say, is when there’s a foul ball, and the umpire asks for balls as well, because now you have to give him the balls, then also run after a foul ball at the back of the dugout without taking too much time. That’s the hardest thing. You also have the pay attention the whole game, too.
“It was my day off,” he added. “I thought I’d do something. It was good.”
Coss, a marking major with a minor in sports communication, has joined the local ESPN Radio broadcast in short stints at other points this summer, but never for a full game.
“I’m around baseball so much, it’s just easy to talk about it for me,” Coss said. “Knowing the game since I’ve been around it for so many years, it was easy to talk about.”
“It was different,” he added. “I picked the right game to do because Danny almost threw a no-hitter.”
Raines and his fan partner won the water balloon toss.
Wakey, Wakey: Coss was supposed to join Raines, Chase, St. Joseph’s catcher James McConnon and Upper Valley pitching coach Tom Hudon at the Nighthawks’ second of three youth baseball camps of the summer last week. One problem: He overslept, and admitted as much on the airwaves on Wednesday.
Hudon said Coss was about an hour and a half late. The Upper Valley Nighthawks’ Twitter account, run by general manager Noah Crane, made sure his absence was known, tweeting out a picture of Chase, McConnon, Raines and Hudon, with the caption, “Camp staff is missing someone.”
Birds of a Feather: Nighthawks relievers Cory Gill and Will Carnley provided a little insight into the uniqueness of Upper Valley’s bullpen this week on the Valley News Hawks Talk podcast.
“It’s really easy to talk to everyone; we’re all kind of the same,” Carnley said. “I think it all started the first day. Before two complete sentences got out of our mouths, we were all talking crap to each other. It was all kind of relaxed after that, when we all knew we were kind of the same.”
Upper Valley’s pitching staff has been one of the NECBL’s best this summer, entering the weekend ranked second with a collective 3.20 ERA. Gill is fourth in the league with five saves. Sampson is 3-0 with 15 strikeouts and a 4.50 ERA in middle relief.
“It’s been a really good experience so far,” Carnley said. “Our lineup, one through nine, has a lot of power, a lot of pop, a bunch of guys that know how to get on base and produce runs. Coming out of the bullpen, it’s usually been a good experience so far. Our starting pitchers have been doing their job well. When coming in with the lead, you know you’ve got one job to do. You’ve just got to do it.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.
Nighthawks “On Deck”
Monday, July 17 at Vermont: It’s been a while since the Nighthawks have traveled up to Vermont’s Recreation Field, a 9-4 Upper Valley victory in which the Mountaineers’ bullpen imploded in the eighth inning. The Nighthawks can win the Governor’s Cup for the first time in team history with a Monday win, which goes to the winner of the season series between the two in-state rivals.
Tuesday, July 18 vs. Plymouth: The Pilgrims are the only NECBL team Upper Valley has not faced thus far; it will travel to Plymouth in its season finale on August 1. Plymouth enters the weekend with a .232 collective batting average, third worst in the league, but its pitching has put the Pilgrims in second place in the Southern Division. Pilgrim pitchers are third in the NECBL with 246 strikeouts.
Wednesday, July 19 at Sanford: Upper Valley already won the season series against the Mainers with a 12-2 shellacking on June 28 at Goodall Park, the Nighthawks first trip to Maine this summer. Sanford has continued to slide in the Northern Division standings after going to the NECBL championship series a year ago, entering the weekend at 10-18.
Thursday, July 20 vs. Vermont: The Mountaineers make their final trip to the Maxfield Sports Complex this summer. It will be the second game in three days between the two Green Mountain squads, the second of four meetings in six days. Mountaineers’ Ryan Hoogerwerf was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs the last time Vermont traveled to Maxfield.
Friday, July 21 at North Adams: The Nighthawks can win the season series against the SteepleCats in the first of two trips to Joe Wolfe Field in the season’s final few weeks before the NECBL All-Star Game on July 30. Danny Wirchansky shut the door on North Adams on Wednesday, throwing 8-1/3 innings of no-hit ball in an eventual 3-1 Upper Valley win.
Saturday, July 22 at Vermont: The first of two games in two days – Saturday and Monday – at Recreation Field. Vermont is batting .234 collectively in 11 games at home with 50 runs, 79 hits and five home runs this season. Upper Valley is batting .277 in 10 road games with 11 home runs.