Mount Greylock Rallies Past McCann Tech on Senior Day
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Mount Greylock’s seniors came up big Wednesday in a 6-3 Senior Day win over McCann Tech.
Jameson Bayliss went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
The 12th-grade battery of Cam Miller and Cole Wetherell held the Hornets scoreless over the last four innings.
And right fielder Jake Newberry had the biggest hit of the day, a one-out, two-run double to tie the game, 3-3, in the middle of a game-winning five-run rally in the fifth inning.
Newberry got his chance after the Hornets took a chance, giving Bayliss a free pass with first base open and two runners in scoring position.
Newberry delivered with a shot to right field that scored Malcolm Leyda and Everett Bayliss to make it 3-3.
Newberry said the intentional walk ahead of him added a little fuel to his fire.
“Yeah, it’s just kind of saying that they don’t think I can hit,” Newberry said. “I grounded out one at-bat before that. But I worked for it, got the right pitch and hit it.”
It was one of three hits in the inning, which started with a leadoff single from eighth-grader Leyda.
After Everett Bayliss was hit by a pitch, Mason Canata bunted the runners to second and third to bring his brother Jameson to the plate.
After Newberry’s game-tying double, Miller traded places with him with a double. Miller eventually scored on a two-out single through the left side from Jesse Thompson to put Mount Greylock up, 5-3.
“Throughout the year, that’s where we’ve struggled where we didn’t get that hit,” Mount Greylock coach Rick Paris said. “We’ll load the bases, but they won’t get that hit. We’ll fly out or strike out or something.
“Jake comes up big with the double after the intentional walk. Malcolm [Leyda], an eighth grader, played phenomenal for us - couple of hits, made some plays at shortstop.”
Leyda finished a 3-for-3 day at the plate in the sixth inning, and he moved up on a pair of groundouts before scoring on Jameson Bayliss’ RBI single to give Mount Greylock some insurance heading to the seventh.
Things got a little hairy from there.
McCann Tech’s Kale Kondel was hit by a pitch with one out, and Nolan Booth singled up the middle, bringing Paris out of the dugout to talk to his veteran starter.
“I wanted to see, and I was gonna ride him,” Paris said. “It’s his day. His chance. He kept us in the game.
“Our pitching is limited this week, so I’m trying to spare guys. I’m very proud of him.”
Thanks to rainouts earlier in the spring, Mount Greylock has four games in four days in the final week of the regular season, which ends on Thursday at South Hadley.
Miller rewarded Paris’ confidence, getting the next Hornet he faced to fly out to left field and getting the final out on a ground ball to Leyda at short.
Back in the first inning, it looked like McCann Tech was going to be able to complete a season sweep of its North County rival.
Hayden Barrett worked a leadoff walk, and Dylan Turner doubled to put two runners in scoring position.
Zack Howland and Brodie Smith followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies to give McCann Tech a 2-0 lead.
The Hornets made it 3-0 in the third. Barrett reached on a one-out single and stole second. He tried to score on Turner’s single to left, but Canata threw him out, allowing Turner to get into scoring position with two down. Howland then singled to right to drive him home and give his team a three-run lead.
But that was all the offense McCann Tech could muster for Smith, who struck out three in a complete-game loss.
McCann Tech (7-6) is at Chicopee Comprehensive on Thursday.
Miller had five Ks against one walk for Mount Greylock, which improved to 6-11 and snapped a six-game skid that included a 7-4 loss to the Hornets in North Adams back on April 29.
“It means a lot,” Newberry said of the win. “We’ve been struggling all season. This is a big game in general, even if it wasn’t Senior Night. We need to win this game, and we pulled through.”