ATHOL — A game that began with the first varsity start for Athol eighth grader Dilan Fountain ended with a win thanks to freshman Keegan Lutz.
With the game in extra innings, Lutz hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored James Laford from third base for the 6-5 win against South Hadley High School in eight innings on Friday afternoon.
“Keegan was hot today,” said Athol coach Josh Talbot. “He swung the bat well. …He came in today and hammered the baseball and I was pretty confident he was going to come through in the clutch. He was seeing the ball really well, hammered the ball foul earlier in the at-bat.”
Lutz entered the game batting 0-for-20 and had a designated hitter hit for him in the team’s previous game against Mohawk Trail Regional High School. He went 1-for-2 against South Hadley with two sacrifice flies and three RBIs.
Athol’s James Laford scores the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Keegan Lutz in the eighth inning as the Red Raiders win 6-5 over South Hadley. pic.twitter.com/0MCCjyjSzz
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“I really had a lot of faith in him coming through right there,” said Talbot. “I think his teammates did as well.”
Laford came within 90 feet of home after walking on a full count and stealing second and third.
“He’s a track sprinter, qualified for all-states,” said Talbot. “We knew he had the wheels. He got on and I said, you know what, we’re stealing second and third. They were having a tough time throwing runners out, so I said we are going to get him over here and see what happens.”
The Red Raiders (3-6) stole five bases.
Athol got out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the eighth inning to stay alive. Anthony Oro, who came in to pitch the eighth allowed a single and a walk to start the top half of the inning.
With one out in the inning and after both runners moved up to scoring position on a passed ball by catcher Kris Selanis, the Tigers’ Drew Foley hit a grounder to second baseman James Laford. He made a reaching play and threw home as Selanis got the tag down for the second out of the inning. On a 1-and-2 pitch, Oro induced a fly ball to center, which center fielder Maysin Tarbell came charging in to make a play on the final out of the inning.
“We had confidence in him. He can throw the baseball,” said Talbot about bringing in Oro in for the eight inning. Oro had pitched seven innings before Friday’s game, giving up four runs on nine hits and four walks. “He has the ability to be a great pitcher. We believe in him.”
The Red Raiders had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh. With the ability to end the game, Joey Lehtomaki hit a ball toward third base. Tigers third baseman Nick Cirone went home with the ball for the second out of the inning. Dakota Williams then struck out looking.
Athol tied the game at five in the bottom of the fifth when Selanis hit a single into left field to score Nicholas Bousquet — who doubled to start the inning — from second.
South Hadley made it 5-4 in the top half of the inning on a two run single by David Adams.
The Red Raiders scored three runs in the bottom half of the second inning to tie the game at four. Williams, Mark Ferrari and Laford all hit singles to load the bases. Tarbell walked in a run and Lutz hit a ball to center field that scored both Ferrari and Laford on the play.
With the Red Raiders playing three games this week and playing again on Monday, Talbot elected to pitch Fountain against the Tigers. In his first ever varsity game, he pitched six innings and gave up five runs on eight hits and six walks (one intentional), while striking out six. He worked himself out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth inning through a strikeout and a popup to short.
“We needed a guy who could throw strikes and he was our guy,” said Talbot. “We saved him — I told the (junior varsity) coach yesterday not to use him and we needed him today. We put our faith in him, we needed him to throw over the plate, and that’s what he did.”
The win ends a four game skid for the Red Raiders and marks their first win since defeating Hopkins Academy on April 18.