LIVERMORE FALLS — It’s a big week for the Mt. Abram baseball team to finish the regular season.
Two wins could get the Roadrunners to the fourth seed and a first-round bye in the Class C South playoffs. The Roadrunners took care of business on Monday by getting the first win, defeating Spruce Mountain 10-3.
Tuesday, the Roadrunners (12-3), the fifth-place team in C South, end the regular season against Oak Hill (12-3), currently sitting as the third seed.
“We knew these two games are definitely a must-win,” Mt. Abram’s Payton Mitchell said after Monday’s win. “Tomorrow’s game is as big as this one.”
The Phoenix (6-10), who finished up their regular season Monday, will play a preliminary-round game once the postseason begins in Class C South.
“We just need to iron out our fielding and really work on getting more hard-hit balls in play,” Spruce Mountain coach Jake Bessey said. “We are the underdogs here on out and we know that. We know we are going to work even harder than we have been working.”
After an uneventful first inning, the Roadrunners had the game’s first mistake in the top of the second when Mitchell got picked off at first to end the inning.
“We are usually a pretty good base running team,” Mitchell said.
The Phoenix had their own base running mistake in the bottom of the inning when Garrett Hunt tried to steal third but got tagged out.
Base running errors cost Mt. Abram in the top of the third when Ash Rollins got caught in a rundown between second and third and Spruce Mountain turned a double play, getting Bryce Wilcox at second to end the inning.
“We run the bases. Hopefully we win most of them,” Mt. Abram coach Jeff Pillsbury said. “We are aggressive. We lost those this time. They made good plays on us.”
Spruce Mountain rode the momentum in the bottom of the third when Elie Timler reached first on a dropped third strike. After moving to second, Timler scored on a Tyler Spugnardi single for a 1-0 Phoenix lead.
Mt. Abram responded with a three-run top of the fourth. Tucker Plouffe, who started the inning by reaching on an error, scored on a fielder’s choice, tying the game 1-1. Logan Dube drove in two with a single to right for a 3-1 advantage.
“It was an outside pitch and I tried to drive it to right field,” Dube said. “Fortunately, it got through to score two runs.”
The Phoenix manufactured runs in the bottom of the fourth when Logan Knight singled and Jakobe Herrera pinch-ran for him. Later in the inning, a Reece Davis groundout scored Herrera. Lucas Towers tied the game 3-3 on a Nate Holland walk, in which ball four reached the backstop. Holland tried to take second but was thrown out to end the inning.
Cam Grey gave Mt. Abram the lead for good with an RBI single in the top of the fifth, bringing home Wilcox for a 4-3 advantage.
The Roadrunners’ big inning came in the top of the sixth when Bear Rollins started it with a double to left. He scored on an Ash Rollins double and two runs crossed the plate on a Bryce Wilcox double, giving Mt. Abram a 7-3 lead. A Tre Pease groundout scored one with the bases loaded to cap off the five-run inning.
“I didn’t see (Bear) Rollins’ hit — that one was up there, I didn’t see it off the bat,” Jeff Pillsbury said. “It didn’t seem like he got a lot of it, but it got to the fence.”
Mitchell and Wilcox each had an RBI single in the top of the seventh, stretching the lead to 10-3.
“The wheels came off and our inconsistency really showed those last few innings,” Bessey said. “But, we battled for five and a half innings, and we took advantage of a couple of their aggressive plays. Picking them off at first was a huge play for us and the double play to end the inning. We took advantage of what we could at the beginning.”
After Dube pitched the first four innings for Mt. Abram, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts, three relievers finished the game.
“I was dealing curveballs and I was throwing a lot of those,” Dube said. “Those were comfortable and I stuck to it.”
Mitchell struck out three in the bottom of the fifth, while Kaden Pillsbury only allowed a walk in the sixth. Wilcox only allowed a walk in the seventh to close out the win.
Griffin Achorn pitched into the sixth after getting the start for Spruce Mountain. Kolby Cotton finished out the game on the mound.
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