Jutras Looms Large In Drury's Win Over Wahconah
DALTON, Mass. — It's been an up-and-down season for Robert Jutras and the Drury baseball team so far this year. Monday's game against Wahconah certainly represented one of the higher notes, though.Jutras relieved Blue Devils' starter Alex Bush in the top of the sixth inning and held the Warriors in check by throwing four scoreless innings of relief. The Drury senior then came through with the game-winning hit in the top of the ninth, singling home junior Ryan Ouimet to give his team a 2-1 extra-inning win on the road. Jutras struck out four and walked none to improve his record to 2-3 this year, lowering his team-leading ERA to just 1.59 in the process.
"This was a huge win for us," Blue Devils head coach Al Marceau said. "Robert really came up big, the defense played great and Alex threw five innings of shut-down baseball. My veterans like Max Quinn, Ryan Ouimet, Bush and Jutras really stepped up today. They played a great game defensively and really did a nice job of keeping the team up and in it.
"[Ryan] Kasala threw an outstanding game for them, and we were fortunate to outlast him in the end. It was an awesome baseball game with both teams pitching well and playing excellent defense."
Bush started and gave up just one run in the bottom of the third to allow Wahconah to take a 1-0 lead. Bush struck out five and walked two before leaving the game with the scored tied at 1-1 entering the sixth. Drury (5-6) tied the game in the previous inning, taking advantage of back-to-back errors by the Warriors' defense. It was a tough break for Kasala, who allowed just that one unearned run on six hits to take the loss.
Wahconah left 10 men on base in the game, including twice stranding runners on second and third base in both the sixth and seventh innings. Jutras pitched out of those two jams, however, and helped his team at the plate by going 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI.
The Blue Devils next host Mohawk at 4 p.m. on Friday.