Jones Pitches Mounties Past McCann Tech

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass -- Sixty-eight percent of Joe Jones’ pitches were strikes on Thursday afternoon at Joe Wolfe Field.
 
That gave him a 100 percent chance of earning the win.
 
Jones allowed just two baserunners in six innings of work to pitch the Mount Greylock baseball team to a 15-0 win over McCann Tech.
 
“Joe was great today,” Mount Greylock coach Steve Messina said. “He’s a strike machine, and he had that change-up going, which kept the hitters off balance. He was just pounding away.
 
“He didn’t walk a batter, and we made the plays behind him.”
 
Mount Greylock also took advantage of the opportunities it was given, making the most of its 10 hits and making the Hornets pay for 11 walks and six hit batters by the three McCann Tech pitchers.
 
Oscar Low and Dom Paris each went 2-for-4 at the top of Mount Greylock’s lineup. Low also was hit twice and drove in three runs. Derek Paris, Tyler Canata and Paul Roeder each drove in a pair of runs.
 
Derek Paris’ RBI groundout in the top of the first scored leadoff man Low for the only run Mount Greylock would need.
 
But the Mounties broke the game open with a five-run third inning that featured Roeder’s two-run single to push the margin to 6-0.
 
That was more than enough the way Jones was dealing.
 
“My two-seamer, it’s my go-to fastball,” Jones said. “I love it. … I was really able to hit my spots today.”
 
McCann Tech coach Ken Recore said offense has been a problem for his squad in the early going.
 
“From a hitting standpoint, that’s an area that we’ve kind of struggled so far in the season, and it’s definitely a point of emphasis moving forward,” Recore said. “[Jones] wasn’t overpowering, but he definitely threw strikes. He was around the strike zone, and he had a breaking pitch to keep us off balance.
 
“It was one of those games where it felt like: Next inning we’re going to get on him; next inning we’re going to get on him. And we never got on him.”
 
McCann Tech starter Jeremy Beany started the game strong, pitching out of trouble early to keep it a tight ballgame.
 
After allowing that opening run on Derek Paris’ groundout to second, Beany got the next man on on a grounder to short to leave a man on third.
 
In the second, Mount Greylock loaded the bases with one out, but Beany got the next hitter to ground out to third baseman Owen Gagne, who calmly tagged the bag and threw home to Andrew Koch, who made the tag play to end the inning.
 
But the five-run third -- which featured two walks and a hit-batter -- and a three-run fourth put McCann Tech in a deep hole.
 
Meanwhile, the Mounties were making all the plays behind Jones. In particular, Low raced down everything in sight in center field -- nearly getting to the gapper that broke up Jones’ no-hit bid in the bottom of the fifth.
 
“He’s a really good player,” Messina said of Low. “He’s fast, as you saw, and he covers a lot of ground.
 
“That’s a comfortable thing for any pitcher, and all our pitchers know that. We’ve played pretty well in the field so far -- obviously with a long way to go. But they know they can throw strikes and let guys hit the ball because chances are pretty good we’re going to make the play. So that’s a comfortable feeling for a pitcher.”
 
Mount Gryelock (2-0) hosts Wahconah on Tuesday.
 
McCann Tech (2-2) hosts Sci-Tech on Friday.
 
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