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Woodstock lacrosse players Declan Roylance, left, Gavin Freund, Taylor Underwood and Cole Little spend some time playing spike ball during the baseball game in Woodstock, Vt., on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. Woodstock’s baseball team and their fans wore pink as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Night. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) -
Woodstock’s Ben Runstein celebrates with teammate Aksel Oates after bringing in a run during their game with Green Mountain on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Woodstock, Vt. Green Mountain won 10-8. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) -
Woodstock’s Aksel Oates gets a hit during his team’s game with Green Mountain on Wednesday, May 27, 2025, in Woodstock, Vt. Green Mountain won 10-8. The team wore pink uniforms for Breast Cancer Awareness Night. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) -
Woodstock’s Drew Gallagher throws to first with teammate Ben Runstein on the left during their game with Green Mountain on Wednesday, May 27, 2025, in Woodstock, Vt. Green Mountain won 10-8. The team wore pink uniforms for Breast Cancer Awareness Night. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)
WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock High baseball team had its six-game winning streak snapped, 10-8, on Wednesday night against Southern Vermont League divisional foe Green Mountain in what could only be described as a barn burner.
The teams exchanged the lead through the first five innings in a back-and-forth affair between two squads that are both in the top half of the VPA Division III rankings.
“Losing is disappointing. You can see the disappointment on the kids’ faces,” said Woodstock head coach Jason Tarleton. “We know Green Mountain is a scrappy team; we expected that. When push comes to shove, if you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to execute and make plays, and we just had too many mistakes to overcome a good hitting team.”
The scoring started early for both teams.
Green Mountain senior Tanner Swisher led off with a line-drive double to left field off of Wasps starting pitcher Riley O’Neal. Green Mountain’s next batter beat out an infield grounder and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position.
After a strikeout, Green Mountain took advantage of a Wasp error to take a 1-0 lead and notched another run later in the inning on a sacrifice fly before O’Neal, a junior, escaped the jam.
Woodstock’s leadoff hitter, senior Ben Runstein, reached base on an infield single, stole second and third and scored on an errant throw to make the score 2-1. An RBI triple from senior Vincent Petrone brought in junior Aksel Oates to tie the game. O’Neal plated Petrone with a single to right field against his counterpart, Green Mountain sophomore starter Evan Farrar, to take a 3-2 lead.
But Woodstock’s lead evaporated as quickly as Green Mountain’s, thanks to a three-run bomb to left field by Swisher, and Green Mountain went on to score again to take a 6-3 lead.
Once again, the Wasps responded, roaring back to take a 7-6 lead, thanks to the bats of Oates, Petrone and sophomores Jake Blackburn and Ray Petrone.
Green Mountain reclaimed an 8-7 lead in the top of the third inning before Woodstock tied it back up in the bottom of the fourth.
With the game tied at 8-8 in the top of the fifth, Green Mountain delivered what would end up being the decisive blows. The Chieftains built a 10-8 lead on an RBI double from Swisher and a weak grounder from Farrar that the Wasps misplayed.
After Green Mountain retook the lead, both pitchers — Green Mountain sophomore Mason Parker and Woodstock sophomore Drew Gallagher, who relieved their respective starters — settled in.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Wasps had runners on second and third but were unable to take advantage. Parker shut the door in the sixth and seventh innings to seal victory for Green Mountain.
Although his team came up short on Wednesday, Tarleton emphasized the importance of close games during the regular season against quality opponents as the Wasps gear up for a playoff run.
His team has squeaked out three one-run victories in the past two weeks, including a 6-5 win at Green Mountain on May 21.
“It’s critical to be in tight games because the playoffs generally are about tight games,” he said.
“You kind of take a game like this and you build off of it, because you’ve got to be able to overcome some adversity in the playoffs to make a run.”
The loss dropped the Wasps to a record of 10-3. Woodstock will look to close out the season on a high note when they host undefeated White River Valley on Friday.
“We got a big one Friday night, so we have to have short-term memory on this one, think about it a little bit tonight, come back to work tomorrow and get ready for Friday,” said Tarleton.
The Wasps donned pink uniforms in recognition of their Breast Cancer Awareness game, which drew a sizable crowd and offered opportunities to make donations. Such a game is something Tarleton said he has long wanted to do as a coach, and this was the first time to make it happen.
“I think it’s important to understand that sports mean a whole lot to this school, but there are things out there far bigger than sports,” he said. “Just to take an opportunity like this and get a lot of people here, it leaves thoughts in their minds. … If people can walk away and think this was a pretty great experience, then this will become an annual thing.”
Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at mcoughlin@vnews.com.