Pittsfield Takes Round One Against Taconic

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Jason Codey Friday struck out nine, walked none and pitched the Pittsfield baseball team to a 4-1 rivalry win over Taconic on Buddy Pellerin Field at Clapp Park.

 

Codey went the distance on the mound in winning his second start and lifting the Generals to 3-0 on the young season.

 

The senior St. Anselm College commit credited catcher Jackson Almeida with helping him get ahead and stay ahead of hitters all afternoon long.

 

“I was attacking them with the first pitch,” Codey said. “My catcher, Jackson, called a great game. He always knows how to get the first-pitch strike for me.

 

“I’ve been throwing to him since I was a little kid. I’ve thrown to him every game of my high school career. Just our connection of getting that first-pitch strike helps a lot. Once you get that first pitch, being able to use all four pitches and balance that out, it helps me keep people off base.”

 

Taconic managed just five baserunners against Codey, who allowed four hits.

 

Three of those hits came in a row in the fourth inning, allowing the Thunder to push a run across and tie the game.

 

Codey came back stronger with a 1-2-3 fifth inning after his offense spotted him a 3-1 lead.

 

“That’s the way we want him to pitch,” Pittsfield coach Drew Pearce said of the top of the fourth. “You can’t strike guys out unless you get two strikes on them, right? We need that strike one, strike two, and you’re going to go deep if you can pitch to contact early, right?

 

“And some of those – with good hitters like this – are going to go through. He knows enough not to get rattled and just settle back in and go right to the next guy.”

 

Pittsfield jumped on top early with a run in the bottom of the first.

 

David Wildgoose reached on a one-out, infield single, moved up on singles by Morrie Fried and Almeida and scored on Simon Mele’s RBI groundout to make it 1-0.

 

For the Thunder, Evan Roccabruna did not get rattled on the hill. He got the next hitter to ground out to the left side to strand runners at second and third.

 

Roccabruna and Ethan O’Donnell combined on a nine-hitter for Taconic, which gave up just three earned runs against Pittsfield after giving up double-digit runs in the Thunder’s first two outings this season.

 

“I thought Ev [Roccabruna], especially his first time out this year, the game plan was to mix speeds, try to get them a little over-anxious, induce some weak contact – and I thought he did that, especially in big spots,” Taconic coach Ben Stohr said. “I thought the defense stepped up on some hard-hit balls.

 

“We know that this is one of the best teams around, one of the best teams in the state. So it’s always going to be an uphill battle. You’re never happy with a loss, but I think Evan competed, Ethan competed, keeping us in the game.”

 

Taconic’s offense came to life in the fourth with back-to-back-to-back hits from Gavin O’Donnell, Ed Ferris and Gavin Maffuccio. Ferris drove in O’Donnell, who stole second.

 

Codey, though, bore down and struck out the next two hitters to leave Ferris and Maffuccio at second and third.

 

The Generals took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning.

 

Mele got things started with a leadoff double, and Cam Hillard worked a walk before Codey’s sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position.

 

Ryan Stannard and Brenden Socie, Pittsfield’s No. 8 and 9 hitters, delivered back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-1.

 

“We love that bottom of our lineup, because they are gritty, they are tough, they are fast, they are good baserunners, and they are tough outs all day for anybody,” Pearce said. “They will [move up]. They’ll move around, possibly, this year. But right now they’re stringing together great at-bats, and there’s no downside. They flip the lineup so well.

 

“Look at Brenden Socie and the heck of a game he had, defensively and offensively as well.”

 

Socie went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and made a sliding catch in left field for the first out of the game.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, Hillard led off with a single to left, moved up on a Stannard sac bunt and a wild pitch and scored on Socie’s second hit of the day to make it 4-1.

 

Taconic got some hope in the top of the seventh when Ethan O’Donnell started with a leadoff single. But the next hitter lined out to Pittsfield first baseman Fried, who doubled off O’Donnell to kill any thoughts of a rally.

 

Taconic (0-3) is off until Friday, when it plays Agawam in the first game of a back-to-back.

 

Pittsfield (3-0) goes to Longmeadow on Saturday morning.

 

Photos from this game to come.