(Newburyport) It figured to be a close game.
North Reading and Newburyport had played in April and the Clippers needed three runs over the final two innings to pull out a, 5-4, win.
Charlie Forrest had pitched well in that one in long relief (four innings) to get the win.
Charlie was the starter this afternoon and he took “pitched well” to another level.
The final was Newburyport 10, North Reading 0, in a mercy-rule ending in the sixth inning.
Charlie tossed a one-hitter and retired the last nine Hornets in order.
“Charlie was dealing out there today,” said Clippers coach Mark Rowe afterwards.
He certainly wasn’t overpowering. Just effective.
“I was just throwing strikes,” explained Charlie post-game. “My teammates made all the plays.”
Making plays was what North Reading struggled to do today. The Hornets (7-5) also had runners thrown out at second and third.
“We played terribly,” said NR coach Eric Archambault afterwards. “This was our worst game of the season.”
“As a team we pride ourselves in our defense and baserunning and those two things absolutely killed us today,” he added.
“We took advantage of the extra chances they gave us,” said Coach Rowe. “We made good contact all day.”
The Clippers (10-3) had twelve hits spread among eight players. Connor Stick, Jack Fehlner, Brady Ford, and Ty Cowles had two hits each.
An error, a wild pitch, and four hits produced Newburyport’s first three runs in the second inning.
The Clippers batted around in the fourth inning. Two more NR errors and four Newburyport hits turned into four more runs for the home team.
Meanwhile, Charlie Forrest, after giving up a hit to Craig Rubino in the first inning, was cruising.
“Their pitcher did a great job,” said Coach Archambault. “He was hitting his spots and making his pitches, the whole thing.”
The Hornets’ Zach Rosatone reached second base in the second inning but was picked off.
In the third inning, pinch-runner Max Forristall tried to advance to third on a fly ball and was gunned down.
Charlie didn’t allow a baserunner over the final three innings.
“My curve was working good especially low in the count,” explained Charlie. “I followed it up later with the fastball that usually got them.”
The Clippers took a 7-0 lead into their half of the sixth inning. They added two more hits and took three walks to get the three runs they needed to end the game. Jack Sullivan’s walk drove across the winning run.
Six different Clippers had RBI. Luke Stallard and Jack Fehlner each scored twice to lead in that category.
Coach Rowe: “We expected a battle today. They’ve been playing great. They’ve been scoring a ton of runs.”
Coach Archambault: “Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve had a bunch of good games recently and we dropped one today. We got to respond going forward.”
Newburyport’s five seniors (Ty Cowles, Luke Stallard, Jack Fehlner, Owen Roberts, Brady Ford) were honored pre-game.
The weather was unpleasant. Today we had temps in the low 50’s with a 20MPH wind.
North Reading 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0
Newburyport 0 3 0 4 0 3 = 10
(The pictures will enlarge.)
McClelland Miscellanea 