Wojtkowski Throws Shutout Game in Mounties Win

LENOX, Mass. -- Three times on Tuesday, the Lenox baseball team got a runner on second base with fewer than two outs.

 

Each time, Mount Greylock pitcher Cole Wojtkowski was up to the challenge.

 

Wojtkowski gave up three hits and stranded eight runners in a complete-game, 5-0 win over the Millionaires.

 

“Cole was great today,” Mount Greylock coach Steve Messina said. “He was strong throughout. Even the last inning, he was throwing the ball with velocity.

 

“He gave up a couple of hits, but our defense played well behind him. He was tough. He was competitive.”

 

Eli Ostheimer went 3-for-4 to lead a 12-hit Mount Greylock attack as the Mounties (7-3) won their third straight game.

 

The Mounties got all the offense Wojtkowski needed in the top of the first.

 

Cal Messina hit a one-out double and went to third on Ostheimer’s single to right. Messina was erased in a run-down after getting caught straying too far off the base on a play that allowed Ostheimer to move into scoring position.

 

A wild pitch sent Ostheimer to third, and he came home when Phil Guest singled up the middle.

 

Reece Gillette led off the second with a single to right, and after the Millionaires loaded the bases, Brandon Condon was hit by a pitch to send Gillette home.

 

That rally included a single by Nick Rondeau, one of several plays by Rondeau, the No. 8 hitter, and Tyler Marten, the No. 9 hitter that factored into four of the Mounties’ five runs.

 

Rondeau went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Martens was 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

 

“That was huge, getting back-to-back hits for, I think it was the fourth run,” Messina said. “Any time the bottom of the order can drive some runs in, that’s really important.

 

“Nick is a good player. Tyler is a good player. The guys at the bottom of our lineup are productive. They’re there because they’re good players. They’re fast. They can make things happen.

 

“I wasn’t surprised. I was happy. But I wasn’t surprised.”

 

Lenox coach Kevin Downer was happy to see his team put the bat on the ball, but while the Mounties were finding holes, the Millionaires were hitting the ball at people far too often.

 

“We had opportunities, but instead of hitting the balls in gaps, we we were hitting them at people,” he said. “That was the difference. They hit more balls in the gaps than we did.”

 

Lenox starter Michael Hurley struck out 10, but his pitch count was too high for Downer’s taste.

 

“Cole [Wojtkowski] pitched a great game, and his pitch count was probably 20, 30 less than Mike’s,” Downer said.

 

And Hurley left the mound after six innings with a 4-0 deficit.

 

He also had one of the three hits against Wojtkowski, a one-out single in the fourth. He went to third on a groundout, but Wojtkowski got the final out on a strikeout to end the threat.

 

Lenox (1-6) hosts Hoosac Valley on Thursday, when Mount Greylock hosts Monument Mountain.