ATHOL — When 11th-seeded Athol High School varsity baseball team takes on sixth-seeded Southwick Regional on Friday at 7 p.m., the two seem destined to create an intriguing matchup that could come down to one hitter.
On paper, the pitching departments of the two teams rank rather even. While the Red Raiders have two pitchers (Nicholas Bousquet and Mark Ferrari) that have really dominated western Massachusetts opponents, the Rams also have two solid pitchers in Nick Kavrakis and Bart Shea.
Kavrakis has a 5-1 record on the year. In 42 ⅔ innings, Kavrakis has 56 strikeouts with a 2.46 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, while Shea has a 3-1 record and has 36 strikeouts in 32 ⅓ innings along with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. While the Red Raiders have pitchers like Anthony Oro and to a lesser extent, Noah Pottinger, Dilan Fountain and James Laford, Southwick has pitchers to match in Josh Lis (27 innings, 24 strikeouts), Josh Sylvia (seven innings, seven runs) and Dan Burnett (10 innings, 14 strikeouts).
If one picked out a difference between the two teams, it would be at the plate and specifically in Southwick’s Burnett.
A premiere hitter in western Massachusetts, Burnett hit 10 balls for extra bases (including three home runs) with 21 runs scored and a batting average over .500 during the regular season. Yes, one hitter can’t do it all, but hitters such as Bart Shea (three home runs, one triple) and Kavrakis (21 hits) surround him.
While Athol’s hitting seems a step behind Southwick when it comes to power, the team does have balanced hitting. Bousquet finished the year with a slash line of .411/.463/.548 along with 10 doubles and 18 runs. Catcher Kris Selanis offers some power, hitting .379 with one home run and shortstop Robbie Nelson has swung the bat well to end the regular season, finishing the year with a healthy .321 batting average to go along with 11 walks, 11 RBIs and 14 runs.
The Red Raiders have played much better as of late, ending the season on a two game win streak and went 8-4 after starting their season off 2-6. And if it means everything, the lower seed has won all but one game so far in the Western Massachusetts Division III tournament, as No. 9 Belchertown, No. 10 Greenfield and No. 12 Easthampton all won their first round games. No. 4 Hampshire is the only team to thwart off the lesser team with a 3-2 win over No. 13 Palmer.
The state of both Athol and Southwick baseball makes Friday’s game an interesting one and a hard one to predict. In essence, if both teams pitch to its potential, the game should come down to one hitter or one swing.