Windsor
The junior right-hander handcuffed host Windsor on a two-hitter as the Otters left soggy MacLeay-Royce Field with a 4-0 Marble Valley League baseball win.
“The first game I pitched this year, it was in snow,” Aines said.
The rain came off and on, never enough to impede the game, and both defenses handled the slick ball pretty well. The Otters fumbled a couple of balls in the first inning but were errorless the rest of the way until one out in the seventh. Windsor had three errors, but one was a dropped fly ball and another came when a ground ball went under an infielder’s glove.
While Aines was the focal point of the game, Windsor did leave six runners in scoring position.
“We kept waiting for the big hit and didn’t get it,” said Windsor coach Jamie Richardson.
Windsor won a 1-0 contest from the Otters back on April 25. In that game, OV had runners on second and third with one out in the seventh when a suicide squeeze attempt popped back to Windsor pitcher Seth Balch, who turned it into a game-ending double play.
The Otters came to bat in the seventh inning on Wednesday clinging to a 1-0 lead. An error on a ball hit by OV’s Payson Williams and a walk to Riley Shannon put runners on first and second.
Colby Mackay dropped a bunt that Windsor catcher Duncan Frazer fielded only to find no one covering first base, leaving Otters on every base with no outs. A wild pitch and two infield rollers drove in all three runners. The Otters scored three times without getting the ball out of the infield.
Aines retired 10 battters in a row at one point before plunking pinch hitter Allen Heideman with one out in the seventh. A walk to Brandon Tillman put two runners on, but Aines got a fly ball and a ground out to end the game.
He threw 102 pitches, striking out five and walking three.
“First-pitch strikes was the key, and the defense made the plays,” Aines said.
OV coach Mike Howe also thought that mixing the pitches up was a factor. “He kept them off-balance,” Howe said.
Both teams play difficult schedules. While this was the first win in five games for the Division II Otters, two of their defeats came against Division I teams. Division III Windsor (2-4) has played just one game in its division, beating Thetford, 16-1.
While the Yellowjackets didn’t have a lot of baserunners, those who got on made it into scoring position, but there they stayed.
“We let them off the hook,” said Richardson. “We’ll learn from this and get better.”
The Jacks left Balch at third in the second inning, Jake Meagher and Ryan Richardson at second and third in the third inning, Balch and Robbie Slocum at second and third in fourth and Heideman at second in the seventh.
Nick Kapuscinski threw a complete game for Windsor and pitched well enough to win on most days. He gave up just five hits, with one walk and four strikeouts, in a 99-pitch effort. Only one of the runs was earned.
Windsor goes to Rutland on Friday.