Baseball pg 9 5-16-19



Getting beat on a walk-off hit once in a week is bad enough. Twice? Such was the fate of the Woodstock Academy baseball team last week.
The Centaurs fell to Killingly early in the week, 2-1, and then lost to St. Bernard, 4-3, in eight innings.
The week ended on a more difficult note as Ledyard, one of the top teams in the ECC, if not the state, handed Woodstock Academy a 10-0 loss May 11.
The loss to the Colonels dropped the Centaurs back to the .500 mark at 8-8. They are now 3-4 in Div. II of the ECC.
“It’s tough,” said Woodstock Academy coach Brian Murphy. “The kids are working hard and getting better, but we felt a little snakebit. They’re grinding. They have committed to do that. As I told them, sometimes, you’re going to get knocked down a few times and you just have to get back up.”
The Centaurs and Redmen battled through 4 ½ scoreless innings until Killingly broke through in the fifth May 7.
Austin Dionne singled and pinch-runner Brady Waterman moved up to second on a walk, to third on a sacrifice, and scored on a single through a drawn-in infield by Tyler Cournoyer. The Centaurs tied the game in the top of the sixth when Eric Preston walked and, two outs later, Jonathan Smith drew a free pass which opened the door for a game-tying single by Luis Miranda.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cole Levigne had a one-out single for the Redmen and Castor Ward walked. After a foul out, Cournoyer singled to load the bases to bring up No. 3 hitter Jacob Tarryk.
Tarryk launched a bomb to the opposite field that went well over the head of left fielder Doug Newton to knock in the game winner. It led to another heartbreaker May 9.
Woodstock Academy took the early 2-0 lead on the Saints when Tommy Li singled, stole second and scored on a Preston single in the third. Nathan John (3-for-4) added to the lead in the fifth with an RBI single.
Freshman Brendan Hill held down the Saints on just one hit for the first 5 2/3 innings.
“He pitched exceptionally well and he’s been one of our really nice surprises this year. Picking him up was big. He’s done well. He has a presence on the mound and confidence. In every little cloud, there is always a silver lining and that was one,” Murphy said.
But the Saints got to Hill in the sixth.
Sam Davis and Max Adams singled and Jakob Morell was hit by a pitch. Kevin Fay singled home one and two more scored on a passed ball to give the Saints a 3-2 lead.
Woodstock Academy tied the game in the top of the seventh.  Li reached on an error and two outs later, John singled him home. John, the team’s starting first baseman, leads the Centaurs with 15 runs batted in.
The Saints won the game when Fay singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth.
The game-winning hit came off Woodstock Academy ace Luke Matthewson who also suffered the loss against Killingly and saw his record drop to 5-3. Matthewson has thrown 44 2/3 innings thus far this season.
But the close game with the Saints spurred Murphy’s action to use his ace again in relief. With Matthewson unavailable and Preston unable to go, the Centaurs went to a pitching-by-committee approach May 11.
Ledyard took advantage and scored three runs in each of the first two innings. The Colonels put it away with four in the sixth. Ledyard pitcher Cade Walters allowed just one hit, a single by Smith, in the second inning.
The Centaurs had four regular season games remaining coming into the week.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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