Mounties Rally Past Wahconah
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Greylock baseball team Wednesday made the most of their seven hits in a 12-9 win over Wahconah.
And the Mounties scored their most runs of the year on a day when they were back to having their full lineup available.
“We’ve been short-handed,” Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said. “The last week, we had six guys out. All our big guys were out. Guys had flu and strep throat and everything else.
“So we finally got them back for the first time since our first game. … And it showed. They were hungry to play. I got a young group, but they’re really resilient.”
That resilience showed as the Mounties bounced back from deficits of 4-0, 7-6 and 9-8.
Eli Kristensen led the way offensively, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Jesse Thompson and Malcolm Leyda split time on the mound, combining to strike out eight and allow just two earned runs.
Wahconah got a big day at the plate from Scott Hoffman, who drove in a run in a four-run rally in the top of the first and went on to double in a 2-for-4 performance.
Thompson issued a pair of walks, and the Mounties committed a pair of errors behind him in that opening rally.
But Paris’ team bounced back with a three-run rally of its own in the bottom of the first. Kristensen and Emery Rotter (2-for-3) each singled, and Andrew Holland worked a bases-loaded walk for an RBI.
Control was a problem for the five Wahconah pitchers who threw in the team’s second game of the season. Mount Greylock worked 13 walks, and Wahconah pitchers threw six wild pitches.
First-year coach Collin Parrott agreed there was a bit of a silver lining on a day when no Wahconah pitcher threw more than Daniel Hoffman’s 2 and two-thirds innings.
“We played today, we just played Monday, we play tomorrow, we play Saturday, so we’ve got to see who can rise to that occasion,” Parrott said. “You’ve got to throw guys out there and see what they can give you early, because we’re going to need all the arms we can have in a short season.
“You see who’s willing to step up in those big moments. And we had a couple of freshmen that came in and threw good innings for us.”
After Mount Greylock got within one run in the bottom of the first, the hosts took the lead the next inning thanks to four walks and an RBI double from Kristensen.
Wahconah’s offense produced through the middle innings, though, retaking the lead with two in the fourth to make it 7-6 and two more in the fifth to go ahead, 9-8.
It got RBI doubles from Aiden Arseneau and Luke Ferguson during that stretch but also left five runners in scoring position in the game.
“We didn’t capitalize too well after that first innings with opportunities,” Parrott said. “We just kept letting them get back in it. And then they made a little push there at the end, and we just couldn’t get over the hump. We’ve just got to be a little better with those guys in scoring position.”
Mount Greylock trailed by one going to the bottom of the fifth with the sky starting to darken after a 4:30 start.
It got a leadoff walk from Owen KoaMoya to spark a four-run, game-winning rally.
Leyda hit an RBI double, and Rotter and Cole Creighton each drove in runs to give their team a three-run lead.
Leyda then made that lead stand up by pitching out of a two-on, one-out jam in the sixth and leaving a runner in scoring position in the seventh.
“I can’t say enough great things about [Leyda],” Paris said. “He came in in a tough spot [in the fourth] and had a mishap on the mound where the ball was thrown away. But he was able to regroup, come back, stay poised and keep pitching.”
Likewise, Thompson overcame a rough first inning to go 3 and a third innings with just two earned runs allowed.
“I was very happy with his performance and how he came back and battled back after that first inning and just started throwing strikes,” Paris said. “His curveball wasn’t landing for strikes like it usually does. So that kind of took him out of his game a little bit.
“But, you know what? He got us into the fourth inning, which we need. We needed those three innings. That was huge for us.”
Before Wednesday’s home opener, the Mounties recognized longtime assistant coach John Benzinger, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Gary Palumbo talked about Benzinger’s impact on baseball in Williamstown, where he helped renovate the youth baseball field and served as president of the local Cal Ripken Baseball League before working with the middle-high school program for years, creating a seventh- and eighth-grade team and building the dugouts on the varsity field.
“John created a youth baseball buzz that fed the Mount Greylock program for years to come,” Palumbo said.
Mount Greylock (2-2) hosts Mount Everett on Thursday.
Wahconah (1-1) is back on the road on Thursday to race Hampshire Regional.