Robinson's One-Hitter Leads Drury to Win

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- When Drury senior Schuyler Robinson took the hill to start the seventh inning on Saturday morning, pitching a no-hitter was very much on his mind.

 

Three batters later, he had bigger fish to fry.

 

“I was pretty frustrated,” Robinson said about losing his no-hit bid with two out in the top of the seventh. “But I wanted to win the game. That was the tying run on third.”

 

That run was in the person of Monument Mountain’s Nate Cormier, who tripled to left field to become the first Spartan to get into scoring position all day against Robinson.

 

But the right-hander settled down and got the next man looking at a called third strike for his 11th punchout of the game and a 1-0 win for Drury (11-6).

 

The Blue Devils won for the first time since clinching a spot in the Western Mass tournament back on May 7. Although the three losses since then were against three of the better teams in the region -- Taconic, Pittsfield and Wahconah -- they were still three losses.

 

“[Monument is] a struggling team, but we’re struggling as well,” Robinson said. “We needed a win to get our seeding up because we would have been a very low seed. We’ve got to win out.”

 

Drury assistant Christian Watford, who filled in as Patrick Boulger serves a two-game suspension following an ejection, agreed that the Blue Devils needed a win on Saturday.

 

“They’ve been on a little bit of a losing streak -- and tough games, too,” Watford said. “We’re playing top teams. And they all were pretty much close games. They could have gone either way.

 

“Now, we get a week off, so they need this. And they’ll see these guys again in a week or so.”

 

Drury is off until it plays Mohawk on Friday in an independent game. It also has to make up a trip to Monument Mountain; that game was scheduled to be part of a double-header on Saturday, but all the sunny weather the last couple of weeks allowed the Blue Devils to get caught up on their games and instead make the trip to Great Barrington to give the Spartans (6-7) their home game.

 

Saturday’s game saw its lone run in the bottom of the second.

 

Kirby Bryce drew an eight-pitch walk to lead off the inning and went to third when Shayne Garvey reached on a two-base error.

 

After Monument’s Dominic DeFelice got one of his six Ks for the inning’s first out, Hayden Bird took a 2-2 pitch up the middle to score Bryce.

 

“With guys on second and third, you’ve got to do the job, and Hayden Bird came through today,” Watford said. “He hit the ball up the middle and came up with another single later and got himself into scoring position. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get him in.

 

“He’s strong with the bat. Now that he’s starting to get going, hopefully other guys will catch fire.”

 

Robinson allowed three baserunners before Cormier’s triple.

 

In the second, Nick Frechette drew a two-out walk, but he was retired on a ground ball to short. In the third, Trevor McFarland was hit by a pitch with two out, but a ground ball to first ended the threat. In the fifth, James Allentuck reached on a one-out strikeout that got away from catcher Kody Crosier, but Crosier then threw out Allentuck attempting to steal second, and Robinson got the next man swinging.

 

“He had his stuff today,” Watford said of Robinson. “And he’s like that. When he’s on, he’s on. … He’s learned throughout the season, and it’s a good time for him to get hot.

 

“If he stays hot, we’ll be in good shape.”