Blue Sox Routed at Home, lose to Pittsfield 14-0
HOLYOKE, Mass. - The Blue Sox, coming off of their most important win of the year, hosted the Pittsfield American Defenders and were handed a very rough go of it, losing 14-0 at MacKenzie Stadium.The Blues were never truly at the helm of any momentum, really, after giving up a run in the second and third innings to start things off.
Along with giving up the early lead, Holyoke did not capitalize when they put men on the base paths, leaving a combined six runners on base through the first four innings.
With the game still in reach at 5-0 in the sixth, it looked like reliever Maxx Catapano (Southern Conn. St.) was about to get out of the inning unscathed and get the Blue Sox back into the dugout.
But the pitch that was the fifth in the at bat of shortstop Virgil Chavira (Azusa Pacific U) barely missed the inside corner and kept the at bat alive. Chavira then walked, which started the trend of four straight Defenders reaching base, with three of them crossing the plate. The game quickly turned very much in favor of Pittsfield at 8-0, and the Defenders did not look back.
Along with the valiant effort from the offense, the Pittsfield starter had quite the ball game as well. The left-hander Robert Young (Dartmouth) went seven innings, but walked six batters and hit two men as well. The silver lining of his outing, though, was that he only gave up two hits, which were all the Blues could muster up on the evening.
Those two hits came off of the bat of left-fielder Alex Hilliard (Vanderbilt), who smoked both shots into the right-center field gap to give himself two doubles on the evening. The performance was one of the only ones of note on the side of the Sox.
One more outing sticks out in the box score, and your eyes do not deceive you. The big first baseman/designated hitter Murray Watts (Arkansas State) came on to pitch the last out of the top of the ninth inning. Despite giving up a hit, Watts consistently threw strikes and ultimately got the Blue Sox back into the dugout after a frustrating inning.
But the outing was far too little, too late as the Blue Sox did not have a grip on the game from the start, losing to the Defenders for the third time this season.
The Blue Sox (13-11) head to Vermont to face the division-leading Vermont Mountaineers (17-10) tomorrow night.
For more information about sox players, coaching staff, personnel or tickets, visit the team’s website at www.holyokesox.com.
