McCann Tech Comes Back to Top Mount Greylock

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Through four innings on Friday at Joe Wolfe Field, the McCann Tech baseball team had four runs but no hits to show for their efforts.

 

Collin Booth changed that in a big way.

 

Booth led off the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle to ignite a three-run rally and propel the Hornets to a 9-6, come-from-behind win over Mount Greylock.

 

“I don’t do team captains,” McCann Tech coach Justin Howland said. “I don’t do team captains on my team. I do team leaders. And Collin is definitely showing that he is the biggest team leader on this team. And he rallied these guys tonight.

 

“It wasn’t me in our group huddles between innings getting them going. It was Collin getting them going.”

 

Booth ended up going 2-for-3 at the plate. Noah DeBenedetto hit a key three-run double, and Nick Gilman threw three innings of scoreless relief as McCann Tech improved to 2-1 this season.

 

The Hornets rallied from a 6-1 deficit after 3-½ innings in winning their second straight game.

 

The Mounties (0-3) got a two-run single from Jameson Bayliss (3-for-4, double and three RBIs) in a three-run fourth inning to help open the biggest lead for either team.

 

McCann Tech cut into that margin in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs without a hit.

 

Four walks and two Mount Greylock errors fueled the rally, which starting pitcher Bayliss ended when he got the final out on a line drive to second baseman Mason Canata.

 

After Gilman pitched around a one-out walk for a scoreless fifth, McCann Tech’s offense picked up where it left off.

 

Booth followed up his single by stealing second, then the Hornets went strikeout, walk, strikeout, walk to load the bases with two out for DeBenedetto.

 

He delivered a bomb to left-center to clear the bases and give McCann Tech a 7-6 lead.

 

They added to that cushion in the top of the sixth with two runs on four more hits. Austin Buda drove in a run with a single to left, and he ended up scoring when Aaron Livsey was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

 

In the top of the seventh, Bayliss led off for the Mounties with a double to center field, but Gilman struck out the next three hitters to end the game.

 

For Mount Gryelock’s fans, who watched a veteran-laden team win a state championship last spring, it has been a different experience to start the 2023 campaign.

 

“We’re going through some growing pains,” Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said. “We’ve got some young guys, and they’re learning. We only have two returning starters. It’s basically a whole new team out there. So we just have to keep working every day to try to get better in practice and see where it goes.

 

“We just can’t make as many mistakes and then let our pitcher be out there for too long.”

 

Bayliss gave up two hits in 4-? innings before giving the ball to Cam Miller for his first varsity outing.

 

Lukas Rylander got the ball to start for McCann and was tagged with all six runs but just four earned runs before Gilman came out to start the fifth.

 

“The defense was not there for us tonight,” Howland said. “We made the plays when we had to, but we made some critical errors too. Nicky G came in and pitched well. Lukas Rylander pitched well, too. He didn’t have the defense to back him up. He threw a hell of a game, and we made some errors behind him that didn’t help him out.”

 

McCann Tech plays its fourth straight Berkshire County opponent on Tuesday when it faces Drury at Joe Wolfe.

 

Mount Greylock will look for its first win on Monday at home against Belchertown.