Warriors Win Pitchers' Duel With Blue Devils
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury baseball team played one of its better games of season on Tuesday night, but Wahconah starter Ryan Kasala didn't let the Blue Devils enjoy it, scattering nine hits and allowing just one run in the Warriors' 3-1 win at Joe Wolfe Field.Kasala struck out five and didn't allow a single walk to earn the complete-game victory. Drury (2-4) did manage nine hits against him, but Kasala did a good job throughout the game of staying away from the big inning. Blue Devils' starter Robert Jutras also pitched well, allowing two earned runs on just five hits to take the loss. Jutras struck out nine and walked two in six innings of work before classmate Joel Giorgi closed out the game by pitching a scoreless seventh inning.
"This was a tough loss," Drury head coach Al Marceau said. "We played a very solid game, and I believe we were close offensively. Wahconah came up with the big hit, and we did not."
The Warriors actually had a pair of big hits in the game, one coming from Joe DiMassimo when he hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. Lane Grogan gave Wahconah some insurance with a two-run single in the fifth, giving Kasala a nice 3-0 lead to work with. Junior Ryan Ouimet came through with an RBI single in the bottom half of the fifth, but that was all the Blue Devils could muster in the game.
"Robert pitched an outstanding game and deserved a better fate," Marceau said. "We had more hits but couldn't get any leadoff batters on base. Its very hard to manufacture runs when you already have one or two outs when you get a base runner on. Ryan Kasala did an excellent job on the mound for them. He did what every coach wants their pitcher to do. He threw strikes and let his defense play behind him. He changed speeds and didn't walk a batter. It was a tough loss when you play as well as we did, but I'm proud we fought right to the last out."
Ouimet, Giorgi, Isiah Clark and Alex Bush each had two hits for Drury, which returns to action with a 4 p.m. game against Taconic on Wednesday.