(Groveland) “It was absolutely our best game of the year,” said Pentucket coach Kevin Murray afterwards.
Pentucket defeated Newburyport, 3-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Groveland Pines.
Chase Dwight pitched a 3-hitter. Max Ligols had a 2-run homer and the Pentucket defense was error-free.
“You have to tip your cap to them (Pentucket),” said Newburyport coach Mark Rowe. “They got the big hits when they needed to, and Chase (Dwight) pitched a great game. He threw strikes and if you do that in this league good things are going to happen.”
The biggest hit was by Pentucket’s Max Ligols. The UMF commit had two strikes on him in the fourth inning before clearing the leftfield fence.
“I was down on the count,” recalled Max. “He threw me a first-pitch curve and then came back with it. I just stayed behind and let loose on it. It was the first homer I’ve ever hit. I didn’t even have one in Little League! It sure felt good.”
Max’s homer brought home teammate James Davis who had a long-count single leading off in that fourth inning.
“No one was an easy out today,” said Coach Murray. “We didn’t have any first-pitch outs and we battled back from 0-2 counts.”
Pentucket collected an unearned run in the previous inning. Trevor Kamuda reached on an infield error, stole second and took third on a fielder’s choice. Chase Dwight’s two-out double brought Trevor home.
Newburyport’s best chance to get run(s) was in the fourth inning. The Clippers loaded the bases with one out. A walk (Lucas Stallard), a double (Owen Tahnk) and an intentional walk (Jack Fehlner) put Newburyport in a good spot. But Pentucket escaped as Chase caught Brady Ford looking and handled Tyler Cowles’ grounder to end the threat.
Pentucket answered with the Max Ligol homer in the bottom half of the fourth and had a 3-0 lead.
Chase retired nine of the last ten batters he faced to earn the win for Pentucket.
“My fastball was my best pitch today,” said Chase afterwards. “I had good location.”
“Our energy was high throughout the game,” he added. “We hit when we needed to. Whenever Newburyport did hit, my teammates were there making the plays.”
Chase told me that he will be attending Mass Maritime Academy in the fall. “I may go out for baseball,” he said. “You have to try out for the team, so we’ll see what happens there.”
The Clippers (8-3) came into today’s game averaging 6.9 runs per game. “We hit a lot of balls hard today but right at people,” said Coach Rowe.
Pentucket (5-4) finished with six hits. Max and Chase had two each. Ethan Hunt and James Davis had the other two hits.
The Clippers had hits from Owen Tahnk, Jack Fehlner, and Connor Stick.
Alex Robertson was solid for Pentucket at first base handling nine chances that included several low throws. “Alex had some nice picks,” said Trevor Kamuda post-game.
Prior to this afternoon’s game, Pentucket had won three straight, before losing to Lynnfield last game.
The Clippers entered today’s game having won seven straight. Last loss was on April 11th to Amesbury, until this afternoon.
The weather was comfortably warm at the start and then became much cooler later.
Newburyport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0
Pentucket 0 0 1 2 0 0 – = 3
(The pictures will enlarge.)
McClelland Miscellanea 