Mount Everett Battles Back for Extra-Inning Win over Mounties
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Everett baseball team has played a lot of close games this spring.
On Wednesday at Mount Greylock, the Eagles were not going to be denied.
Sean Warren hit a two-out single to drive in a pair of runs in the top of the eighth that sent Mount Everett to a 3-1 win.
The Eagles (7-2) got off the mat after Mount Greylock broke a scoreless tie with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game and force extra innings.
“We’re a team that just keeps fighting and fighting,” Warren said. “Even if we’re down, we’ll keep coming back.”
It was the fourth time in the last five games for Mount Everett that the game has been decided by three runs or fewer. The lone loss in that stretch, a 10-9 decision to an 8-2 Drury team on Saturday.
“When we played Drury, we got down three times and we came back,” Mount Everett coach Dan Lanoue said. “So I know these guys battle back all the time. They’re resilient, and they never give up on any at-bat or anything.
“They’re resilient and they just fight hard and don’t give up.”
It was an uphill battle most of the afternoon for both offenses against starters Heyden Cutlip of Mount Everett and Jake Gladu of Mount Greylock.
The pair combined to allow no hits and no walks through the first three innings.
The Eagles broke through with a pair of hits in the top of the fourth, but Gladu stranded both with a strikeout and a fly ball to center to end the threat.
Mount Greylock’s Dylen Harrison broke up Cutlip’s no-hit bid with a leadoff infield single to start the fourth, but Cutlip eventually stranded him at third base.
“Six and a third strong innings,” Lanoue said of Cutlip. “He’s not overpowering, but he’s around the strike zone, and he has a good off speed pitch to keep them off balance. It started with him.”
The Mounties’ Gladu, meanwhile, struck out five and retired the side in order four times while allowing no runs through the first six innings.
“He pitched really well,” Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said. “He stayed within himself. He didn’t get into his own head like sometimes. He was calm and he was making his pitches. I thought he did an awesome job.”
And he got some help from his defense.
In the fifth, right fielder Jake Newberry erased a runner trying to go to second on a single with a strike to shortstop Jackson Shelsy.
In the seventh, center fielder Jason Jaros gunned down a runner trying to score from third with a perfect throw to catcher Tommy Art that helped hold the Eagles to one run.
Mount Everett needed that run in the seventh after Mount Greylock finally got to Cutlip with an unearned run in the sixth.
Harrison drew a one-out walk for the first free pass allowed by Cutlip and proceeded to steal second and take third on an errant pickoff throw.
Then, with two out, Harrison came home when Art reached on an error to give Mount Greylock a 1-0 lead.
After giving up a single, Cutlip got the final out on a fly ball to end the inning.
In the top of the seventh, Mount Everett wasted no time getting that run back.
Michael Ullrich led off with a double to left center and scored on a double by Jacob Kreis.
Kreis eventually was retired, but the Eagles put two runners on with one out, leading Paris to pull Gladu and send Cam Miller to the mound.
Miller got a ground out and a fly ball to end the rally and keep it a 1-1 game.
In the bottom of the seventh, Mount Greylock used a walk and an error to put two runners in scoring position with one out against Cutlip.
Lanoue opted to bring Nathaniel von Ruden in from center field, and he got a fly ball in foul territory for the second out, gave up a walk and ended the inning on a comebacker to the mound to send things to the eighth.
Eagles leadoff man Michael Devoti started the eighth with a single down the third base line. Von Ruden then drew a walk and Matt Lowe singled to load the bases with nobody out.
The Mounties pulled the infield in, and Miller got a flyout in foul territory for out No. 1. The next hitter grounded to Jameson Bayliss at third, and he went home to get the lead runner, leaving the bases loaded with two out for Warren.
He delivered his third hit of the game and the winning RBIs.
The Mounties put two men on in the bottom of the eight, but von Ruden struck out the last two batters he faced to end the game and pick up the win.
Although it was the Eagles who went home happy, both teams could take away some positives from the battle.
“I told the guys, don’t let Greylock’s record fool you,” Lanoue said. “They’re an athletic team. So we knew it was going to be a dogfight. We played good, solid defense, and it went our way.”
“Today was definitely [Gladu’s] best performance of the year, and probably our best performance,” Paris said. “We’re getting there.”
Mount Greylock (1-10) hosts Lee on Saturday.
Mount Everett hosts Monument Mountain on Friday.