Lee Pitches Wahconah Past Mohawk Trail
DALTON, Mass. -- Kyle Lee got the final out looking at a called third strike with the tying run on base Friday as the Wahconah baseball team blanked Mohawk Trail, 2-0.
The high pressure situation was the kind of spot Lee found himself in all game long, and he came through every time to win his first start of the season and give Wahconah a 4-1 record.
“With kids on base, I just try to pound the zone and not give them anything,” Lee said. “I just try to let my fielders do the work.”
Lee, who finished with six strikeouts, started the seventh with a groundball out to the right side. But a single up the middle brought the tying run on base.
The next hitter pounded a dangerous looking line drive to right, but Bob Archambault made a sliding grab and popped up to nearly complete the double play at first.
Mohawk’s No. 9 hitter then dropped a single to left to put runners on first and second with two out for the leadoff man. But Lee shut the door.
“He did a great job pitching for us,” Wahconah coach Ernie Wellington said. “He’s the kind of kid where it takes him 50 or 60 pitches before he actually settles in. So I told him: In your bullpen, I want you to throw 50 pitches before you start a game.
“He’s a workhorse. He’s the kind of kid that’ll throw 100 pitches and come out the next day and be like, ‘I’m ready to throw again, coach.’ He’s one of those kinds of kids. He grinds.”
And his offense gave Lee an early lead on Friday.
Wahconah leadoff man Jake Gai was hit by a pitch and stole second ahead of a Zak Bernardo, who earned his way aboard with a walk.
Caden Frazier drove a ball to right field that ticked off the fielder’s glove, allowing Gai to race home with the game’s first run and sending Bernardo to third.
After a strikeout, Chad Howes laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring home Bernardo and make it 2-0.
And that was it. Wahconah managed just one hit the rest of the way, a leadoff double by Aidan Borowski in the fifth. He made it to third base on a groundout but died there.
Lee said Wahconah did not carry the empty at-bats into the field.
“We’ve just got to stay positive,” Lee said. “We flush it and try to move on to the next play.”
And Wahconah made all the plays but two: a first-inning overthrow that was erased when Lee started a 1-6-3 double play on a comebacker to the mound and a third-inning miscue.
Lee had runners on base in each inning but the sixth and ended up stranding seven. He benefited from that twin killing in the first and a nifty 5-3-5 double play from third baseman Tanner Hill to Howes at first and back to Hill, who put the tag on a man trying to advance from second.
Wahconah is scheduled to host Drury on Saturday.