AUBURN — Ben Allen was already running on fumes by the time shortstop Jared Hanson made the last in a bevy of big plays by the Winthrop defense during Monday’s MVC game with unbeaten St. Dom’s.
Allen’s pitch count was approaching 120 by then, and whatever adrenaline he could draw from the great defense being played behind him was probably already spent by the bottom of the seventh. So when the Saints put the tying runs in scoring position, Allen had to reach down for a little extra.
“I was dragging on every last breath those last few there,” Allen said.
On his 130th pitch, the lefthander struck out Mike Bryant (his only K of the game) and ended the Saints’ hopes for an unbeaten regular season with a 4-2 win.
The Ramblers, who went into the day in third place in the Heal Points standings behind the Saints and Dirigo, improved to 10-2, and now have wins over both of those teams on their resume.
“(Ben) had a heck of a game,” Winthrop coach Marc Fortin said. “He doesn’t throw overpowering stuff, doesn’t stress his body that much, I don’t think. We’ve had him up around 100 (pitches) all season, so he went a little longer than that today. Of course, they never want to come out, but when I went out there (in the seventh), he was like ‘I’ll finish this, Coach. It’s under control.'”
Sparkling defense helped Allen (seven hits, one earned run, six walks, one HBP) keep it under control and strand nine St. Dom’s runners on base. The Ramblers turned two key double plays and threw two runners out at the plate.
“Unbelievable. I can’t put into words how good they were,” Allen said of his defense.
Speedy center fielder Drew Stratton made two big plays — a nice sliding catch ranging to his right on Caleb Dostie’s two-out flare in the fourth. That catch kept what would have been the tying run from scoring, preserving Winthrop’s 2-1 lead.
“As I told the boys, we did not score runs with the base hit,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Blackman said. “We had plenty of opportunities to do so and just couldn’t square him up when we needed to.”
Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, St. Dom’s (13-1) threatened again, putting runners at second and third with one out. Aaron Schmitz hit a fly ball to Stratton who, while already playing shallow, was able to charge and get some momentum behind his throw home. It was a little high but still arrived in time for catcher Dakota Carter to tag a standing Jimmy Theriault at the plate.
“I knew right when I was getting it that I was throwing home,” Stratton said. “I’ve played (with Theriault) and I knew he was going to try to take home. It was a perfect fly ball for the throw.”
Carter and Allen teamed up to cut down another potential run at home on a wild pitch to end the sixth.
Hanson’s RBI single in the top of the seventh made it 4-1.
Dostie led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. Will Desmarais then hit a liner to short that the umpire ruled was trapped by Hanson. Both Dostie and Desmarais stopped running because they thought the ball was caught, and Hanson started the 6-4-3 double play. Blackman argued that the base umpire didn’t make a definitive call on the play.
Regardless, the play stung more for the Saints as the inning unfolded. Theriault walked and Lorenz and Schmitz singled to make it 4-2 before Allen closed it out.
“The curve ball was working well, and my two-seam fastball was moving all over the place,” Allen said. “I kept them off-balance and it worked out well.”
The Ramblers were wary of Desmarais’ curve ball but couldn’t generate a lot of hits with the exception of one inning. They scored their first run without a hit in the second inning, as Tyler Stockford led off the second with a walk, moved to second on a passed ball and scored when the catcher’s throw trying to keep him from stealing third went into left field.
The Ramblers strung together four of their six hits in the third, but got only one run out of it. Stockford inflated the lead to 2-0 in the top of the third with a two-out single to score Zach Steele. But a runner was thrown out at third and Stockford was picked off first to end the inning.
“You only have so many opportunities,” Fortin said. “You see those opportunities start to go by the wayside and you start to wonder if you used them up. But I guess we had a couple more.”
The Saints started seeing opportunities go by the wayside early, too. They stranded runners at first and second in the first inning, then second and third in the second inning, both times with one out. In the third, Carter made a nice sliding catch on a foul ball to strand a runner at second.
Winthrop’s defense had its only major hiccup in the fourth, when it committed a pair of errors to give the Saints their first run.
Caleb Labrie went 3-for-3 to lead St. Dom’s. Hanson had two hits for Winthrop.
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