GM boys come up short in 6-4 thriller

By Evan Chadwick
©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

BELLOWS FALLS

There are wins on the scoreboard and, especially in early season play, there are wins by gaining experience. Although Coach Matthew McCarthy’s Green Mountain baseball team was on the short end of a thrilling 6-4 contest with Bellows Falls on a pleasant Saturday afternoon, you wouldn’t think that the GM boys’ “lost” anything.

“These are the types of games we want to play,” said McCarthy, whose squad drops to 1-1 on the season.

In the first inning, Chieftain batters showed patience against Terriers starting pitcher, Jack Cravinho making him work deep into counts and consistently fighting off the tough pitches to earn another. Tanner Swisher led off with a single to right and then quickly stole second. After a Reid Hryckiewicz walk and a double steal that moved both into scoring position, Cole Swisher delivered an RBI groundout to shortstop to give GM the 1-0 lead.

The Terriers responded in the bottom of the inning, as GM starter Kagan Hance struggled with his control, walking three batters and hitting another resulting in four runs.

“We walked about eight too many batters today,” said McCarthy. “It’s something we have to learn from.”

Wyatt Rose came in to relieve Hance and was able to get the last two outs of the inning on a strikeout and fly ball to keep the game well within reach.

“For his first varsity experience, Wyatt did a pretty good job giving up just one run in three plus innings,” said McCarthy.

The Chieftains would add two runs in the top of the second, courtesy of a two run double to deep right center off the bat of Tanner Swisher that pulled the Chieftains to within 1 at 4-3.

Cravinho settled down after the Swisher bomb, retiring the next 12 GM batters, while the Terrier offense added two runs on a walk and RBI ground out to take a 6-3 lead into the top of the 7th.

“We knew Cravinho was going to be tough,” said McCarthy. “He throws around the plate and has a good curve.”

McCarthy’s boys made it quite interesting in the final frame, as with two outs, Swisher reached on an infield single. Hryckiewicz followed with a single to put the tying run at the plate in Hance.

Hance hit a slow roller to shortstop and beat out the throw by a half a step to load the bases. Chase Swisher battled Cravinho, fouling off several tough pitches and worked an RBI walk that had BF Coach Bob Lockerby looking to his bullpen in Jamison Nystrom to close out the contest.

Jack Hinkley battled Nystrom to a full count before pulling a ground ball to short, where Cravinho raced to the second base bag to earn the Terriers their second win of the season.

Tanner Swisher led the Chieftains with three hits and 2 RBIs.

GM is next in action beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26 when they host Mill River.