Chieftains walk to easy, one-hit win 10-0 over Cosmos

By Evan Chadwick
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

CHESTER

It is not often that you hear of a team being one-hit in a baseball game and still cruising to an easy victory.

Regardless of the rarity of the feat, Green Mountain Boys Baseball Coach Matt McCarthy knows that the five inning 10-0 win over rival Springfield on senior day shows much more about his team’s resolve than a box score would allow.

“We put the ball in play,” said McCarthy. “That’s a step in the right direction for us.”

Most of the Chieftain damage was done courtesy of Springfield miscues. The Cosmos would walk a total of 10 batters and hit three more. Five of those came in Green Mountain’s five-run third inning.

A third inning RBI single by Jack Hinkley was the offensive highlight of the contest. After Hinkley’s hit, the Chieftains tacked on another run off a walk that put GM firmly in control at 7-0.

What the Chieftains were lacking in base hits, they more than made up for on the defensive side of the ball. Tanner Swisher, who pitched a complete game shutout, was not overpowering, but instead located his pitches to keep the Cosmos big bats from stringing hits together. And, when the Cosmos did hit the ball hard, the defense made the plays. The most impressive was centerfielder Chase Swisher’s strike to home, where catcher Liam O’Brien was able to tag out a hard-running Cosmos player, keeping Springfield off the board.

“Liam has done an outstanding job filling in as catcher when Tanner pitches,” said McCarthy. “That play at the plate kept the momentum on our side by keeping the shut out and being the third out of the inning.”

GM reached 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth, when Springfield again walked four straight batters, then scored the final run off an error at short with a slow rolling ball off the bat of Reid Hryckiewicz. That sealed the Chieftain’s ninth win of the season and secured the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Division 3 playoffs.

Although McCarthy’s boys closed the season as one of the hottest teams in Division 3, winning 6 of their last 7 contests, the GM skipper knows that the road ahead will boil down to making plays at the most opportune times. “The key for us will be stringing together more base hits off better pitching,” said McCarthy.

The Chieftains start their championship quest on Wednesday, June 1, when they host #12 seed Leland & Gray at 4:30 p.m.