Smith, Spartans Rally Past Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Monument Mountain baseball team rallied for five runs in the top of the sixth inning Thursday to erase a three-run deficit en route to a 9-5 win over Mount Greylock.
Sam Cormier led off the inning with a single up the middle, and Jackson Blanchard, Kyle Gotchey and Jackson Smith each had an RBI single in the go-ahead rally.
Smith also earned the win on the mound with 2-1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
"It was a good comeback," Monument Mountain coach Tom Hankey said. "We haven't had too many of them this year, so it was nice to see the kids respond and start putting some hits together.
"It was good to see."
The Spartans (7-12), who won for the second time in three outings, went ahead in the top of the first on Smith's sacrifice fly to plate Gotchey, who reached on a walk and moved up on a two-base error.
Mount Greylock (9-9) responded with a pair of runs in the second inning on a sac fly by Paul Roeder an an RBI double to left from Oscar Low.
Monument tied it, but the Mounties pulled back ahead in the fifth, scratching out two runs without the benefit of a hit. Phil Guest came home when DAn Buell was hit with the bases loaded, and Evan Sheridan scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Mounties left the bases loaded in the inning, though.
"Up until the fifth inning, we had like 10 guys left on base," Mount Greylock coach Steve Messina said. "You have to get hits when you need them, and we didn't do that. We scored a run on a hit-by-pitch. I mean, we really couldn't do anything. Everything we got, they kind of gave us.
"It just wasn't a good day for us, so we've got to put it behind us and move on."
The Spartans used three pitchers in that fifth inning. Starter Cormier left with two out. Gotchey could not get an out in his brief appearance, and Smith moved in from shortstop with two out and runners on second and third. After issuing a walk, he got the next man to ground out to second base to end the inning.
Building on that momentum, Cormier started the the game-winning rally two pitches later with as single. That chased Mount Greylock starter Evan Sheridan.
Sean Dupont and Marco Buffoni followed with walks to load the bases before Mount Greylock's third pitcher of the inning, Phil Guest, got the first out.
Blanchard hit an RBI single to left, and Gotchey followed with an RBI single to right-center. A groundout off the bat of Cade Groeber moved both runners into scoring position for Smith, who singled to left-center.
With both runners in motion on contact, Blanchard scored easily and Gotchey leaped over Mount Greylock catcher Derek Paris, beating the throw and making it 7-5.
Gotchey added some insurance with a two-run single in the top of the seventh to give the Spartans a little more momentum going into Monday's regular season finale against Southwick.
That won't be the end of the season for Monument Mountain, though. Hankey's team qualified for the Western Massachusetts tournament based on its finish in the Berkshire County South Division.
"Greylock is a great team, and to get a win like this helps us as we're trying to peak for the tournament," Hankey said. "We've still got a lot of work, but I love the effort today from all 10 kids."
Mount Greylock, which is locked out of a second-place finish in the Berkshire North, has to get its 10th win to qualify for the tournament and has two more chances: Saturday at Drury and Sunday against Chicopee Comp.