WINDSOR — If a baseball game could ever be described as a shootout, this was it, as Woodstock High overcame multiple deficits to squeak out a 22-21 victory on the road against rival Windsor High on Thursday.
In a contest that featured multiple clutch moments for both squads, it was Wasps junior Drew Gallagher who was the ultimate hero.
Gallagher, who hit for the cycle, knocked in the game-winning run with a single up the middle in the top of the seventh inning. Woodstock had entered the frame trailing by four runs.
The junior then took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side to seal the win.
“I live for these moments — it’s sick, I love it so much,” Gallagher said. “I’m lost for words, it’s crazy.”
Woodstock coach Jason Tarleton said he was proud of his team for its resilience, having trailed 2-0, 7-2, 10-7 and 21-17 at various points.
But he acknowledged this probably was not the way you want to win a game — unless everyone put on pads and a helmet and it was played on the gridiron instead of the diamond.
“This was strange,” Tarleton said. “We’ve been on either side of a 20-run game before — that’s not unusual — but 20-20, that’s crazy. I don’t know that in 26 years, if I’ve ever seen that.”
The game was a first for Windsor coach Jamie Richardson, too.
“I’ve been sitting in that dugout for 31 years, and I don’t think I’ve had as many bizarre plays and some low baseball IQ plays in a game,” he said. “But two teams that just kept battling through the adversity, battling through the mistakes, and to have a game like that — I’m not disappointed.”
The runs came early and often. Windsor took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a double to center field from senior Tristen Merrill, and a groundout to first from senior Landon Barrio drove in the frame’s other run.
In what turned out to be the theme of the entire game, the Wasps responded.
In the top of the second, freshman Liam Crowl led off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. With one out, freshman Carter Wright reached on a Windsor fielding error, scoring Crowl to make it 2-1.
Wright eventually scored on a bloop single to center by freshman Grayson Hughes. Windsor attempted to throw out the Wasps’ runner at third, but the ball went out of play, advancing him and tying the game at 2-2.
The tie did not last long, as Windsor took a 7-2 lead by the end of the bottom of the second on a combination of Woodstock errors and small ball.
Neither did that lead. The Wasps tied it at 7 in the top of the third on solid hitting and some Windsor errors.
The game continued to seesaw in the bottom of the third, as Windsor went back up 10-7 after freshman Nolan Weld singled in a run, a Barrio groundout scored another and sophomore Nolan Morse hit an infield single to drive in a third.
Woodstock could not tie the game in the top of the fourth but cut into the deficit, trailing 10-9 by the end of the frame on good baserunning and some Windsor errors.
The scoring slowed in the bottom of the fourth as Woodstock senior reliever Aksel Oates struck out three straight Yellow Jackets after walking the first two batters.
The Wasps took advantage of Windsor’s offensive lull and went up 15-10 in the top of the fifth on a single from senior Riley O’Neal, a Windsor error, a three-run home run from Gallagher and another single.
Oates shut Windsor down again in the fifth, and the Wasps added two more runs in the top of the sixth on a Gallagher triple to go up 17-10.
Trailing by seven entering the bottom of the sixth, it was Windsor’s turn to mount a comeback. The Yellow Jackets scored 11 runs in the frame to take a 21-17 lead — but Woodstock’s bats, and specifically Gallagher, were too much to hold off.
“With Drew being able to step up and slam the door shut with a little bit of uncertainty… that was just a real gutsy performance,” Tarleton said.
Woodstock (2-0) hosts Randolph on Friday at 4:30 p.m., while Windsor (0-4) hosts Thetford on Saturday at 11 a.m.
