Late Greylock Rally Falls Short Against St. Joe's
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Take away the fifth inning, and the Mount Greylock baseball team cruises to a comfortable win over St. Joe's on Tuesday. The Crusaders made the most of their three outs in the fifth frame, however, plating six runs to turn a 5-2 Mounties lead into an 8-5 St. Joe's advantage. Despite Greylock's best efforts, the Crusaders would hold on to earn a 9-8 victory on the road, sweeping the season series between the two South Division rivals.Mounties starter Andrew Leitch was looking good through the first four innings, only allowing two runs in the top of the first before getting two outs with a runner on in the top of the fifth. That's when things turned sour for Greylock (5-7). Two singles and two walks later, and Leitch was being pulled in favor of junior Nick Zimmerman with a slim 5-4 lead. St. Joe's pinch-hitter Matt Begrowicz drove in the tying run with a single before his brother Chris ripped a double to center field to clear the bases.
Down 8-5 now, the Mounties scored a pair of runs in the sixth on an RBI single by junior Billy Pulasky (3 for 4 with two RBI). They added another earned run in the seventh to cut the Crusaders' lead down to one, but St. Joe's reliever Mike Carpenter got the final two outs of the game with pinch-runner Eli Burnham stuck on second base.
Mike Taylor picked up the win for the Crusaders (9-1), allowing five earned runs on 11 hits through five and two-third innings of work. Leitch was charged with the loss, although only two of the seven runs he allowed were earned. He only surrendered four hits, but added extra base runners with five walks in the game.
Carpenter led the St. Joe's offense with two hits and three runs scored, while Pulasky and sophomore Sean Houston led the Mounties' 11-hit attack. Houston went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored to raise his team-leading batting average to .391, while senior Tommy Nowlan also chipped in with two hits and one RBI.
Greylock next plays at Lenox at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday.