Meriden
Kimball Union Academy’s previously undefeated baseball team was off to a hot start at home against Holderness on a windy Friday afternoon. Starter Will Englehardt was pitching lights out. The Wildcats’ batters were jumping on pitches from Bulls hurler Nick Grammas. KUA led by five runs after three innings.
But a downpour midway through the fourth forced an hourlong stoppage of play, slowing KUA’s momentum while giving Holderness — which had lost five of its last six games — some time to regroup. The Bulls scored 11 times after the unintended holdup for an 11-5 win, handing KUA (7-1) its first loss of the season.
“We out-hit them,” ninth-year KUA head coach Mike Van Dolah said. “We just put too many guys on base.”
KUA’s advantage fell apart in the top of the sixth inning.
Englehardt, in his first outing of the spring, entered the inning having given up three walks and three hits in five innings. He also struck out three Holderness batters. The Bulls did not get a hit until the fourth, scoring on an RBI single from Grammas to get the comeback going.
But Englehardt lost his groove in the sixth, hitting four of the first six Holderness batters he faced. Matt Pasic made KUA pay with a two-run single that cut the hosts’ lead to 5-3.
Van Dolah went to junior Arlo Merritt in relief to try to stop the bleeding. The first batter he faced, Holderness catcher Tim Manning, squeaked a ground ball underneath the glove of KUA second baseman Noah Spaulding and into center field, driving in two more runs to tie the game, 5-5.
“One of the conversations we had earlier on in the week involved the necessity of my saying, ‘I don’t see any grit. I don’t see any fight,’ ” Holderness head coach Reggie Pettitt said. “You’re in your positions, but your head is in a different place. You’re not focused and when things don’t quite go your way, you don’t have the grit to fight back. In this case, it was a turnaround in both cases.”
The Bulls scored seven runs in the sixth on four hit batters, two walks, three hits and an error. They added another three runs in the top of the seventh on five walks by Merritt before KUA junior Drew Bennett entered the game for the final out.
The Wildcats managed only one hit and one walk after the rain delay. The Wildcats host Proctor Academy at 3 p.m. today before they finish the regular season next Wednesday in a rematch at Holderness.
“It was definitely uncharacteristic of our team,” Van Dolah said. “It’s our first loss. I’m interested to see how they respond tomorrow. We haven’t had to do this yet.”
Van Dolah has been impressed with his veteran team this season, a group that includes seven area athletes.
Eli Jaynes, a Meriden native, led Kimball Union with doubles on back-to-back at-bats and finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Trey Parker, also from Meriden, hit a two-RBI double in the bottom of the first, and Spaulding hit a one-out triple in the second. Hartland’s Kyle Hammond hit a sacrifice fly in the second to drive in Spaulding from third. Jeremy Sigl, from Baltimore, Vt., drew two walks, and Plainfield’s Andrew Hadlock was 1-for-4. Kyle Young, also from Plainfield, served as a substitute for Parker at first base.
“I think our day students, it’s a pretty good market for us,” Van Dolah said. “The best baseball players in New England? That’s not who’s coming here. They’re not coming to northern New England. … I’m highly involved in Lebanon youth baseball, too. That group hasn’t come yet, but it’ll be interesting to see if that has any influence.”
The ceiling is still lower for prep school baseball in northern New England which, like softball and lacrosse, does not feature a postseason tournament organized by the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council. Instead, KUA’s playoffs begin and end with the Lake Region Tournament beginning on May 16, a two-day tournament featuring the top four teams in the league.
“I look at (the prep school season) as an opportunity for kids who like to play baseball to treat it as kind of a spring training,” Pettitt said. “The season is so short, and the summer is three months long. This is a chance to get a bat on the ball, get an eye on the ball, then move into the summer and be ready to go.”
Added Van Dolah: “Would it be great if we had a really special group, like I think this group is? Sure. It’d be nice (to play a NEPSAC tournament). But I don’t think it’s a big deal. Spring is really hard. … It’s really different than some of the other sports.”
KUA has never advanced past the Lakes Region tourney’s semifinal round. Van Dolah likes his team’s chances this spring.
“These guys are as good (a group) of hitters as I’ve ever had, top to bottom,” he said. “It’s a good, strong group. We’re aggressive, they don’t swing at a lot of bad pitches and they’re disciplined. It helps to be disciplined at the plate.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.