Pittsfield's Codey Wins First Varsity Outing in Cooperstown, N.Y.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – The Pittsfield baseball team got a big lift from a new arm in Thursday’s 8-7, come-from-behind win over Monument Mountain at Doubleday Field.
Jason Codey threw 5 and two thirds innings of scoreless relief to close out the game and earn the win for the Generals, who trailed, 7-1, after two innings of play.
Codey struck out seven, walked none and worked around six hits.
And Pittsfield’s offense scored five runs in the fifth inning with the benefit of just two hits to go ahead for good.
“He was amazing,” Pittsfield coach Drew Pearce said of Codey. “He’s been lights out all year on junior varsity. And this was his first opportunity on varsity.
“He’s been with coach [Ben] Stohr down there, getting his pitches, getting his starts every week, and he got up to where we wanted to, last week, call him up as a position player and a pitcher. I knew I was going to use him today. I didn’t know I was going to use him that quickly and for that long. But he was throwing strikes, and he was commanding the zone.”
Monument Mountain worked five walks over the first 1 and one third innings.
It also got five hits, including a three-run home run by Dom Caulletti, to build that 7-1 lead.
For a Spartan team that was shut out in its last two outings, it was a refreshing change of pace.
“I was extremely pleased with the way we started out,” Monument Mountain coach Tom Hankey said. “When we finally started attacking early in the zone, we got good results.
“And we’ve been swinging OK. We’ve just been hitting it at people. But today, I was really excited the way we came out the first couple of innings.”
After Caulletti’s three-run bomb with one out in the second, the Spartans got a walk from Jake Bissaillon that ended the day for Pittsfield’s second pitcher of the day.
Pearce turned to the recent JV call-up, Codey, who got off to a rocky start, giving up hits to Blake Smith and Connor Fennelly to reload the bases.
But Codey closed the door, striking out the next two men he faced to end the inning.
Monument Mountain had threats in the late inning.
In the fifth, Keegan Dargie led off with a single and eventually reached third with two out, but Codey got the next hitter to ground out to the left side.
In the sixth, Cole Bissaillon led off with an infield single, and Smith singled, eventually giving the Spartans second and third with two out, but Codey got the next hitter to fly out to center.
And in the seventh, Dom Velasco hit a two-out single, but he stayed at first after Codey got another ground ball out to end the game.
“I think we all saw what he’s made of right now,” Pearce said. “Wasn’t shy. Attacked everyone. No excuses and went right at ‘em – strike one, strike two, all day long. He’s a tough kid, and he’s a ballplayer.
“And he really showed it today.”
Pittsfield’s offense showed up in the bottom of the first, getting a leadoff single by Ben Jacob, who eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk to cut a 2-0 deficit in half.
But the Generals did not score again until the fourth, which they started down by six runs.
Jackson Almeida and Jack Abel led off with back-to-back walks to start a two-run rally that included an RBI single by Roshan Warriar to make it 7-3.
In the fifth, Simon Mele led off with a single, Jack Reed walked and Almeida singled to load the bases with nobody out.
After a strikeout, the Generals scored runs on an error, a walk and a hit-batter to make it 7-6.
The last two runs then came home on a pitch to the backstop and the second error of the inning to put the Generals ahead for good, 8-6.
“It was just poor execution all around – defensively, mound, everything,” Hankey said. “It was really disappointing at this stage of the season. We just can’t afford to not execute defensively and hit our spots pitching at this point.”
Monument Mountain (5-5) is at Joe Wolfe Field in North Adams to face Drury on Saturday.
Pittsfield (6-5) Saturday goes to West Springfield to play the continuation of a tie game suspended by darkness earlier in the season and a scheduled game against the Terriers.
“We’ve played some good baseball, and we just haven’t put it all together and had that streak yet,” Pearce said. “This could be a springboard. This is what we talk about: When your backs are against the wall, that’s when you show what the team is made of.
“Today, I was really proud of their effort, their determination and just never letting their guard down and never thinking it wasn’t possible to come back. They knew we had a lot of time. They weren’t antsy. They weren’t afraid, and they went at it.”