By Adam Aucoin
THE RUTLAND HERALD
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION,Vt. — The White River Junction Post 84 American Legion baseball team is a resilient bunch. Southern Division rival Lakes Region has found that out in a big way this summer season.
For the second time this season, the Lakers found themselves in control against White River Junction, but couldn’t close the door. Pots 84 rallied late to beat Lakes Region 3-2 on Wednesday at Maxfield Sports Complex.
Jake Barry, a White River Valley product, finished off the rally with a hit into center field that got over Lakers outfielder Carson Babbie’s head and scored Jake Gilman from third.
For a while, it looked like Post 84’s bats weren’t going to wake up. After single hits in the first and second innings, Lakes Region right-hander Ryan Alt was lights out for the next three innings, going one over the minimum and striking out five over that stretch, including striking out the side in the fifth inning.
White River Junction finally came alive in the sixth inning when Barry singled. Colin Vielleux and Matt Hayes both worked walks to load the bases, before Nolan Pepe hit a grounder into a spot on the right side of the infield that Lakers first baseman Joe Buxton couldn’t get an out on.
That infield single scored Barry and tied the game at 2-2.
Gilman shut down Lakes Region in the top the seventh, despite allowing two hits, and the Post 84 offense responded with its showing all game, getting three straight hits to win after a leadoff flyout.
Alt was working fast and efficiently for much of the middle part of the contest, so White River Junction needed to adjust.
“We stopped taking so many strikes. In the middle innings (fourth and fifth), we struck out five out of six times in big spots,” said Post 84 coach Dylan Spencer.
“They hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to make mistakes. If we at least put some pressure on them, we might get a similar outcome.”
The similar outcome Spencer is referring to is the outcome from the matchup between White River Junction and Lakes Region earlier in the season in Fair Haven.
On that day, Lakes Region no-hit Post 84, but still lost on a mix of errors and walks. White River Junction put the ball in play late in that game and it paid off with a win in a very unconventional way.
Barry had three of Post 84’s seven hits on Wednesday and was the only player on his team with multiple hits. Barry accounted for White River Junction’s first-inning run, where his hit scored leadoff hitter Zach Johnson.
Alt has been on the end of some bad luck losses this summer. He pitched in the first game against Post 84 and left having worked deep into the contest and allowing no hits.
Despite his dominance for much of Wednesday’s game, he was given the loss in the scorebook.
“Being a pitcher myself, you feel for the guys when you throw a good game and you fall on the short end of it,” said Lakes Region coach Adam Greenlese, who pitched collegiately at Castleton University.
“(Ryan) had them off balance all day. (Catcher) Tim (Kendall) did a good job sequencing.”
Alt allowed just the seven hits and struck out seven as well.
While White River Junction’s pitchers weren’t as dominant, they kept Post 84 afloat. Left-hander Rhys Anderson started and went 4 1/3 innings, Ethan Jacobson came on for a shaky three-batter outing in the fifth, before Gilman saved the day with 2 1/3 innings of quality relief to earn the win.
Gilman came into the ballgame with two runners on and two outs. He walked the first batter he saw, but got Carson Babbie to ground out to get out of the jam unscathed.
“It was a gutsy performance from (Jake),” Spencer said. “Rhys was on my team last year, so I trust him.”
Spencer noted how his team is pretty short-handed for pitching at the moment, so it’s important for guys to provide length and quality innings when they can.
That fifth-inning threat had potential to be a spot where Lakes could break the game open, but the hit never came. There were multiple other innings where Lakes Region left a runner in scoring position as well.
“Timely hitting just didn’t happen,” Greenlese said.
Matt Heibler had two of Lakes Region’s seven hits. Ethan Kelley had a double in the contest and accounted to the Lakers’ lone runs in the third inning.
His sacrifice fly drove in Heibler from third and a throw to third base trying to get Alt was errant as nobody was covering the bag. The ball went to the third base fence and Alt took home for the lead.
Lakes Region (2-7) hopes to bounce back on Saturday, hosting Manchester Union Underground for a doubleheader at Castleton University. The first pitch of the opening game is at noon.
White River Junction (5-2) will in Rutland County as well on Saturday, playing at Rutland’s St. Peter’s Field for a doubleheader with Post 31.
adam.aucoin @rutlandherald.com
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