Hillard Pitches Drury Past Hoosac Valley

CHESHIRE, Mass. -- When the Hoosac Valley baseball team loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth inning of a 3-2 ballgame on Thursday, Drury pitcher Nate Hillard was on the ropes.

 

But Hillard responded beautifully, getting a strikeout, a popup to the mound and a flyball to Zach Yeaton in right field to end the threat and send the Blue Devils on to a 3-2 win over the Hurricanes.

 

“My whole career, I’ve always said I’m going to live and I’m going to die with my seniors,” Drury coach Pat Boulger said of the senior twirler. “Nate Hillard is a player that probably a lot of coaches don’t know about and a lot of people don’t know about. But he’s one of those player who comes to work every day. He busts his hump. He’s not a big ‘rah-rah’ guy. He just does what we ask him to do.

 

“I asked him to go out today and give me everything he had in the tank. And he gave me everything plus some.”

 

Hillard struck out four, walked one and overcame a rough start in which the first three Hurricanes got hits to spot their team a 2-1 lead.

 

“It’s just another example of giving the ball to your seniors,” Boulger said. “It’s Drury-Hoosac. It’s funny because before the game today, I said, ‘Guys, I’m not going to say a heck of a lot to you because if I have to say a lot about Drury-Hoosac, you’re in the wrong business.’

 

“The seniors have been here long enough to know exactly what I’m talking about. And to a person, when you look out there today, the person who made the plays that needed to be made was a senior.”

 

Hillard, of course, carried the load on the mound. Yeaton, another senior, made the clutch catch to end the sixth. Thaylen Harrison doubled to start a game-winning rally in the top of the sixth. Ryan Dubie, a junior with a lot of experience in the program, made a huge play at third base to kill a potential game-tying opportunity for the ‘Canes.

 

Back in the first inning, senior David Beebe led off the game with a walk against Hoosac ace Noah Matrigali. Beebe moved up on Hillard’s sacrifice bunt and came home on Dubie’s single to right to give the Blue Devils (2-6) a 1-0 lead.

 

The Hurricanes (6-5) struck right back in the bottom of the frame.

 

Keagan McGrath led off with a single, and Matrigali and John Krol followed with a single and double, respectively, to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

 

Hillard then got a strikeout, a lineout to Jacob Brayman in left and a groundball to Dubie to leave Krol stranded at second base. Boulger exhorted his troops with congratulations for, “limiting the damage,” and that was all the damage Hillard allowed.

 

He went on to strand runners in the second and third and pitch 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth.

 

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils picked up a run in the second when Beebe drove in Yeaton to tie the game, 2-2.

 

And in the sixth, Harrison led off with a double and went to third on a groundout before coming home on a wild pitch to give Drury a 3-2 lead.

 

Hoosac appeared ready to erase that margin in the bottom of the frame. Krol (3-for-4) singled, J.P. Levesque drew a walk and Jack Sniezek reached when no one covered first base on his sacrifice bunt attempt to load the bases.

 

But Hillard refused to be rattled and got the next three outs.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, Joe Degere led off with a single, stole second and went to third with one out on McGrath’s sacrifice bunt.

 

But when Matrigali grounded to third, Degere attempted to score and was gunned down at the plate by Dubie.

 

“Any way you slice that -- in a pressure situation, with the spin of the ball -- that is not an easy play to make whatsoever,” Boulger said. “And I have to tell you, my catcher, Dylan Toomey, holding onto the ball, holding firm -- great job on his part.”

 

With Matrigali at second with two out, Hillard got the final out of the game on a fly ball to center.

 

For the Hurricanes, the sixth and seventh innings capped a frustrating day offensively.

 

“You’ve got to produce there,” Hoosac Valley coach Mike Larabee. “You’ve got to have a fly ball or something. We put ourselves in situations two or three times and didn’t come through. I rag on these kids a lot about little things, and they think I’m talking nonsense. It just goes to show you, our little things didn’t show up today.”

 

For Drury, which won its second straight after an 0-6 start, the little things added up to a big win.

 

“We started a little bit rough,” Boulger said. “We had some tough losses. “But I remember saying after the third loss, ‘There’s something there.’ There’s something there that’s decent and workable and buildable. Then we had three losses that were a little bit lopsided. We didn’t play our best ball.

 

“But now I can see what we’re capable of doing. We’re going to be competitive in any game. We’re not just a checkmark off a schedule for any team in Berkshire County. I think everybody knows that.”

 

Drury goes for its third win in a row on Monday at Taconic.

 

Hoosac Valley is off until it goes to Drury on Wednesday.