CLAREMONT- The visiting Cougars jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Cardinals in the second inning after a Tyler Crawford 3-run homer to right, but Stevens scrapped their way back, scattering hits all throughout the game to come away with a home win, 13-10.
In the bottom-half of the second, down 5-1, Stevens plated two runs to chip into the Cougar lead on a 2-RBI single from Drew Grenier that scored Aidan Cahill and Trey Theriault. In the top of the third, Kearsarge answered back with of their own. Noah Gray knocked in a run on a groundout and Levi Wilson had an RBI infield single to give the Cougars a 7-3 advantage.
Stevens’ bats came alive in the bottom of the third. Theriault had an RBI-single that scored Ty Bonneau, Cahill knocked in Derrick Stanhope on a groundball, and after a Josh Stithen walk, Stevens had three straight RBI-singles. Ethan Johnson’s single plated Cahill, followed by a Grenier single that tied the game at seven apiece, and then Alex Taylor delivered an RBI-single up the middle to give the Cardinals the lead, 8-7.
After a scoreless top of the fourth, Stevens would score again in the bottom-half of the inning. After a lead-off single from Brendan Bean, Stanhope had a deep drive in the left-center gap for a standup double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Theriault then delivered with 2 RBIs as he reached on an error and forced Kearsarge to go to their relief pitcher, freshman Tyler Penrose. After allowing the bases to load up, Penrose was able to get out of the jam with the Cougars only trailing by 3 runs.
In the top of the fifth, Stevens replaced their starting pitcher, Johnson, with Stithen. Kearsarge then rallied to tie the game up at 10. Wilson had a big 2-RBI triple down the right field line and would later steal home on a dropped third strike to tie the game.
Stevens added two more in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead back, as Bonneau scored from third on an overthrow to second trying to catch a baserunner stealing, and Theriault would then knock in a run with an RBI-single. In the top of the sixth with two down, facing a two-run deficit, Kearsarge got caught stealing home to end the inning. Stevens added another in the top of the seventh with a Bean sac-fly RBI and in the bottom-half would only allow one baserunner to close out the win, 13-10.
After allowing three runs in the top of the fifth, Stithen settled in and closed the game out nicely for the Cardinals. Stevens head coach, Paul Silva, on his pitching Thursday night, said, “Ethan battled at the beginning… it’s the first time he’s been on for us. That stuff is going to happen when you’re a pitcher, but Josh making his first varsity appearance… he’s our fourth pitcher making their first varsity appearance and he was fantastic. He’s missed a few games for us and I think he was wondering why I had him throwing in batting practice and before games… and that was because we were going to need him at some point. He’s a competitor and he showed it today. He doesn’t let stuff bother him.”
Stevens improved to 7-6 on the year. Silva, on the win, said, “We got down right off the bat 5-1 but I live these guys… they don’t quit. They battle… and we had a big run to get back in the seventh inning, too. We’re doing a good job of putting the ball in play for the most part. If you put the ball in play with guys on base… you have a chance to score. That’s really a big win for us. I think we can prove our position if we can win some games. Everybody’s so bunched [in the standings].”
Kearsarge falls to 3-10 and hosts Campbell Friday at 4 p.m. Stevens is also back in action Friday, as they host Winnisquam at 4 p.m.
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