White River Junction
Improving, Grassi said, will take time, even if there are growing pains along the way.
The Hurricanes lost their second straight to start the season, this time a 7-0 defeat to BFA-St. Albans on a warm, sunny Monday afternoon at the Maxfield Sports Complex. Hartford managed only four hits against Bobwhite pitchers Cam Bushy and Taylor Yates and has been outscored, 20-3, in its first two games this spring.
“It’s situational baseball, definitely,” Grassi, Hartford’s 18-year head coach, said of his team’s inexperience. “We’re in spring training now. Like I just told the guys, ‘Keep working on your stuff.’ ”
Hartford has been one of the teams to beat in VPA Division I over the last few seasons, playing in the state’s highest division for the last 22 years. It last won a D-I title in 2009, put together a combined 36-16 record over the last three years and made D-I semifinal appearances the last two seasons, falling at Essex a year ago.
The Canes did not petition up this spring with numbers low and a roster with much less experience. Hartford will compete in D-II this season for the first time since 1994.
“It’s tough to compete,” said Grassi, who had close to 24 athletes register for baseball this spring. “Some of these schools have no problem putting together three full teams.”
Hartford’s inexperience was on display against the Bobwhites. Hurricane batters hit into two double plays — one in the fourth inning, another in the seventh — and struck out seven times.
Starting Hartford pitcher Kyle Hamilton loaded the bases twice in the first three innings, eventually giving up six hits — including two doubles — and walked three in four innings of work. BFA-St. Albans scored in each of the first four innings.
Tyler Hamilton pitched the fifth inning, forcing two pop-ups and a strikeout to get through the frame unscathed. Hartford junior Riley Packard pitched the final two innings, giving up a run, a single and a walk.
Hartford left nine runners on base and had its best chance to score with two outs in the fourth inning. Nicholas Cameron got on base with a walk and Packard followed up with a double into deep center field to put runners on second and third base. Walker Farley, a senior, popped up in the infield to end the inning.
The Canes left runners on first and second base in both the fifth and sixth innings but couldn’t score.
Packard finished 2-for-3 with a double, a single and a strikeout. Sophomore Brent Potter was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double. Tyler Hamilton was 0-for-4 with a walk, two pop-ups and a strikeout.
Hartford’s schedule features 11 of its 16 games against D-I opponents, a slate that Grassi anticipates will be one of the hardest his team has ever been through. The Canes travel to Bellows Falls this afternoon, the second in a stretch of five games in seven days for Hartford.
“This was our third day outside — two games and a practice,” Grassi said. “We aren’t what we were. … I don’t remember wins or losses every year. I remember when we got knocked out of the playoffs. I think we’ll get there.”
Notes: Parts of the spectating area around Maxfield’s main baseball field were sectioned off with yellow construction tape, marking out areas in which the facility’s new press box-concession stand will eventually be constructed. … Temperatures were as high as 73 degrees on the field. … Hartford graduate, Southern New Hampshire University pitcher and future Upper Valley Nighthawk Jordy Allard was in attendance to watch his former team, wearing a Penmen jacket and hat.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.