Sports

Cardinals’ Bats Explode

By Ray Curren
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT-The Stevens baseball team came into Friday’s annual doubleheader with rival Newport knowing it likely needed to win both games to keep its NHIAA playoff hopes on life support. The Cardinals were also heavy favorites, despite just a 1-9 record, they were battle tested against the best Division II has to offer.

But Stevens still had to get the job done, and despite a couple of tricky moments in the field, it did so convincingly, winning both contests via run-rule: 17-7 in six innings at Bates Field and then 15-5 in five innings at Barnes Park in the nightcap.

“At the end of the day, we’re struggling, too, so we can’t take anything for granted,” Stevens coach Bill Bundy said. “We had to come out, throw strikes and put the ball in play, and we had some big hits today. When we get runners on, now you can steal, bunt, and do some things. It was definitely a fun day for Stevens baseball.”

Newport (1-11) had major issues getting outs all day, but seemed to have a real chance to steal the second game. Devyn Heino started a rally with a double in the first inning that put the Tigers up 2-0, and then had a big two-out single in the top of the fourth that put his team up 5-4.

But Stevens (3-9), which had just one hit through two innings, was starting to warm up like the recent weather. Zach Bundy’s leadoff walk in the fourth was followed by Cody Pellerin’s RBI double, which Ty Theriault then backed up with a triple. Newport was able to escape the inning trailing just 7-5, but after Pellerin (in relief of Bundy) struck out the side in order, Stevens exploded for eight runs and eight hits in the bottom of the fifth to end the contest.

“The two-out errors continue to hurt us, I think we had eight unearned runs and you can’t win like that,” Newport coach Jay Blaine said. “We’ll get there, though, we’re getting better and we have good players coming.”

The biggest hit was again Theriault’s, his second triple in as many innings after he had already homered in the first to right-center. He finished Game 2 with five RBIs, had eight in all on Friday, while scoring six times in the two games.

“I felt great at the plate tonight, just seeing everything really well,” Theriault said. “It felt great to see the ball jump off my bat like that.”

Pellerin was hitless in the opener, but got three in the second game, scoring four times. Matt Becker had five hits between the two games for the Cardinals. Dylon Carpenter and Gabe Howe had four hits each for the Tigers.

Stevens has four games remaining, beginning with back-to-back home games against Laconia and Pembroke Tuesday and Wednesday. They’ll likely need at least three of four to have any shot of qualifying for the postseason.

“I knew we were going to hit. I get frustrated when we make some of our mistakes in the field, and we need to clean that up, but we’re going to hit, I don’t have any doubts about that,” Bundy said. “I hope we sneak in, I’ll play anyone at that point, just give us that chance.”

Avatar photo

As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.