ORANGE — Mahar varsity baseball coach Art Billings wasn’t happy with a called strike three to end Wednesday’s game.
An inside pitch to Noaha Chabot was called strike three as the Senators’ comeback attempt ended with a 5-4 loss to Pioneer Valley Regional High School, Wednesday.
“The umpire swore (Pioneer pitcher Kyle Devlin) had plate, so not much I can say,” Billings said. “Not much I can say. That’s a judgment call on his part and he had a better angle than I did.”
Chabot had the OK to swing and protect the plate with two strikes. He tossed the bat and stated multiple times that the pitch was not a strike, that it was over the batter’s box.
“He kept saying it was inside in on the batter’s box,” Billings said. “It’s tough when everybody thought it except the umpire and the umpire is the one that matters.”
The Senators (5-8) were in the middle of a comeback. With the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Herk, the team’s starting pitcher, hit a sacrifice fly to left to pull Mahar within 5-3. Todd Chaisson made it 5-4 on a single that went off the glove of a reaching first baseman to score Sam Paul from second base. Chabot struck out on the next at-bat.
“Earlier on, we played a little tight and (had) a couple little mistakes, but I think as the game went on we relaxed,” Billings said. “Things started going our way. We started getting the walks and taking good pitches, hitting good pitches. I like the fight in our team.”
The Senators had the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Chabot swung at the first pitch and sent a ball into center to load the bases with one out. Logan Dodge and Will Peredina struck out in back-to-back at-bats against Devlin, who relieved Jared Ackerman to end the inning unscathed.
Mahar scored its first run in the fourth inning.
Down 4-0, Herk sent a pitch into center field that scored Jacob Berry to put the Senators on the board.
The Panthers (8-5) added one run in the top of the fifth on an error by Herk, who bobbled a comebacker. He regained the ball and rushed a throw to first that went high and wide, and into right field to score Jordan Loughman from third, putting the Panthers up 5-1.
Mahar scored one run in the bottom half of the inning on a grounder by Berry that allowed Dodge to score.
The Panthers used a single by Cody Letourneau to go up 1-0 in the first inning. Another throwing error by Herk on a ball hit by Jack Loud allowed Troy Emond to score and Loud to reach third on the play.
The Panthers scored two more in the third on a single by Devlin.
“I think (Herk) struggled early,” Billings said. “Trying to get that first pitch strike over (the plate) was pretty difficult for him early on and got himself into trouble a few times. That’s going to hurt no matter who you are as a pitcher. We stress first pitch strikes and I know he’s young and he’ll learn from this too.”
The Senators must win five out of their next seven games to qualify for the postseason.
“It’s going to take depth and pitching,” Billings said. “I hope we have a few of these games where we can put these things together. We’ve got to win five out of seven which puts us a little bit into a hole but it’s doable. We’re not out of it. That’s what I’ve been preaching to my guys and they believe it.”