ATHOL — The Athol baseball team led by two runs after the first three innings and Nick Bousquet was dealing on the mound against Greenfield, Thursday.
But the bats went cold and the Green Wave rallied for a 3-2 victory.
The Red Raiders had only two hits and struck out five times over the last four frames. Greenfield tied the game in the fourth on a double steal and a single.
In the top of the seventh, with runners on first and third and Anthony Oro pitching for Athol, Greenfield’s Colin Cloutier took off for second with Oro in his set. Oro balked throwing to second which allowed the Green Wave’s Owen Phelps to score the winning run.
“That’s definitely a tough way to lose,” Athol coach Josh Talbot said. “Two teams that battled. A really good baseball game. We were talking about suspending (the game) to next Friday because it got dark and a balk call makes the difference.”
With one out in the inning, Phelps singled through the infield and into center field. After Joe Peabody was hit by a pitch, Cloutier hit a ball to second baseman James Laford, who forced Peabody out at second, putting runners at the corners with two outs.
On a 1-1 count with Hunter Campbell at the plate, Cloutier took off for second as Oro got ready to deliver the pitch. Oro threw to second without stepping off the mound, which allowed both runners to advance on the balk call, giving Greenfield a 3-2 lead.
“We were trying to get (Oro) to step off,” said Talbot. “It was one of those things where the voice works faster than the brain can think and just kind of caught in the middle. Unfortunately, he balked.”
The Red Raiders (1-2) began the bottom of the seventh with a double to center by Mark Ferrari, who pinch hit for Tim Casavecchia. With the tying run on second, the next three Athol batters struck out to end the game.
“Three hitters with a chance to single (Ferrari) in because he has plenty of speed,” said Talbot about his approach in trying to get Ferrari home. “Unfortunately, just didn’t get it done. Sometimes that’s what it comes down to. (Greenfield) got it done in a different kind of clutch.”
Bousquet kept his team in it for as long as he was on the mound. He pitched six innings, giving up only two runs on four hits, while striking out six. He got his team out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth by striking out Keith Broussard looking on four pitches.
“It was a really important bounce back for him,” said Talbot about Bousquet, who walked six batters in 1⅓ innings in the team’s season opener. “He struggled with his command last Thursday. He was brilliant today. He was brilliant and he didn’t even have his best stuff.”
His only blemish came in the fourth when he allowed one run on a double steal of second and home. With two outs, Jake Suhl singled in one run to tie the game at 2-2.
Athol went up 1-0 in the first on a sacrifice fly by Joey Lehtomaki. The Red Raiders took a 2-0 lead in the third on an RBI double by Kris Selanis that scored Laford from first base.
The Red Raiders are off until Wednesday when they face Hopkins Academy (1-1).