(Newburyport MA) “Our whole team swings the bat well,” said Newburyport coach Mark Rowe post-game.
That skill was certainly on display today with eleven hits recorded for the home team.
Eight different Clippers (2-0) had hits as they defeated Pentucket, 7-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Pettingell Field in Cape Ann League action.
Meanwhile, the pitching of Owen Tahnk and Jack Fehlner held Pentucket to three hits. Only one of those hits came over the final five innings.
The Sachems (1-2) led early, 1-0, and could have had more. They had the bases loaded with one out in the third inning but came up empty.
“We’ve got to do a better job swinging the bat with runners in scoring position,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray.
Trevor Kamuda and Bryce Winter pitched for the Sachems.
Sophomore Owen Tahnk got the win for the Clippers going five innings in his first varsity start, giving up three hits, and striking out five.
“Owen was dominant early,” said Coach Rowe. “When he did get some baserunners (bases loaded in the 3rd, second and third in the 5th) he managed to find a way out of it. I’m incredibly proud of him.”
The Clippers struck twice with two outs; first in the fourth inning and then in the fifth.
In the 4th, the runs came on a Luke Stallard double, an intentional walk to Jake Buontempo, and a bases-clearing double by Ryan Archer over the leftfielder’s head.
“The pitch was in my sweet spot, a little inside, a little low,” recalled Ryan Archer. “I just wanted to put it in play.
Those two runs gave Newburyport the lead, 2-1.
In the 5th, Charlie Forrest was hit by a pitch and took second on a passed ball. Jack Fehlner’s double to left scored Charlie, and Tony Lucci’s next-batter double scored Jack.
The Clippers added three runs to their 4-1 margin in the sixth inning.
In that 6th inning, Newburyport had four straight hits off reliever Bryce Winter.
The big shot was Jake Buontempo’s 2-run homer over the leftfield fence.
“It felt really good off the bat,” said Jake afterwards. “It was a fastball up and in. I caught it at the right time, and it just flew. It was my first home run in high school.”
Junior Quinn Fortuna drove home the seventh Newburyport run.
Coach Murray: “I thought we pitched well. We just didn’t swing the bats. We were better than what the score shows. We’re two weeks in with room to grow.”
Coach Rowe: “It was a good baseball game. I give the (Trevor) Kamuda kid a lot of credit. He was your typical crafty lefty. He threw strikes and he kept us off balance. We had hits at key opportunities.”
The defense was solid for both teams. Trevor Kamuda started a double play in the first inning. Shortstop Andrew Melone made a nice running catch in short left to end the Newburyport second.
The weather was good. It was breezy but the fielders didn’t let it bother them.
In the Newburyport win over Triton, the game ended on a running catch in foul territory. More of the same today, as 1B Charlie Forrest avoided the out-of-bounds line to catch the final out.
Ryan Archer: “We’re just two games in with a long way to go. We’ve got bigger goals than winning this game today.”
You know it’s not your day when you’re driving past the game and a foul ball catches your car on the roof as it did to some unlucky driver today.
Pettingell Field looked to be in terrific shape. I saw why afterwards when every member of the Newburyport team went to work on it to keep it that way.
(All of the pictures should enlarge considerably if you click on them.)
(Some of the pictures will end up on Instagram eventually.)
McClelland Miscellanea 