FARMINGTON — Clutch pitching coupled with timely hitting powered Mt. Blue to a 4-3 win over Cony on Wednesday afternoon at Hippach Field.
Mt. Blue (6-5) starting pitcher Amos Herrin wiggled out of tough situations in four of the five innings he pitched to shut the door before Cony (7-5) could muster a big inning setting the stage for reliever Evan Roberts to get the job finished.
“When the going got tough, today, Amos was there,” Mt. Blue coach Christian Boileau said. “There was no question who we were going to go to in relief. Evan has been doing it all season.”
Cony stranded nine base runners, five in scoring position, through the first five innings. After a lead-off single in the sixth by Cony’s Thomas Foster, Boileau turned the game over to Roberts with a 4-3 lead. The senior reliever struck out the side, leaving the Cougars with a one-run advantage.
Roberts, a right-hander, who slings the ball from the side, turned to his slider to sit down the heart of the Cony batting order.
“My slider was working good right from the start,” Roberts said. “We’ve had some tough losses lately, so I was hoping I could hold Cony because Amos had pitched a good game for us.”
Roberts continued his mastery in the seventh with three straight ground-ball outs to the left side.
“I was really frustrated, we weren’t aggressive,” Cony coach Don Plourde said. “We can’t seem to come up with the big hit.”
Both teams featured sacrifice bunts and fly balls, solid base running and good hitting during the early stages of the game, producing a 3-3 score entering the bottom of the fourth.
With one out, Mt. Blue’s Brad Durrell launched a shot down the left field line for a double. One out later, Ryan Pratt lofted a high fly ball to right center field that got caught in the wind, falling behind the Cony outfielders, as Durrell crossed the plate with the eventual game-winning run.
Mt. Blue loaded the bases in the third on a pair of walks and a single, with the game knotted 1-1. Colton Lawrence worked a walk for a 2-1 lead before Anthony Franchetti’s sacrifice fly to left gave Mt. Blue a 3-1 lead.
Cony quickly recovered in the top of the fourth, loading the bases on a pair of infield singles and a base hit to right. Mitchell Caron smashed a two-run double to tie the game 3-3.
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