Young Panthers knock off Lawrence

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FAIRFIELD – It may be the easiest and most blunt postgame analysis Lawrence baseball coach Scott Ballard will ever do.

“It’s frustrating. It’s so clear what went wrong,” Ballard said. “We just couldn’t throw strikes.”

And the visiting Waterville Purple Panthers made them pay for the free passes.

The Bulldogs of Fairfield issued 10 walks – including six consecutive and seven total in the deciding seventh inning – and the Panthers took advantage with timely hitting to knock off the ‘Dogs 11-6.

“Our defense was all right, but there’s no defense against a walk,” Ballard said. “I’ll bet we let eight or nine of those guys we walked score. You can’t do that.”

For the record, nine of the 10 batters who drew walks scored.

The young Panthers continued to be a pleasant surprise to head coach Dick Whitten by remaining unbeaten at 5-0. Lawrence is 3-2.

The game had all the markings of a solid pitchers’ duel for four innings. Lawrence took a 2-0 lead in the fourth courtesy of two Waterville errors and one of Travis Hotham’s two doubles.

But everything changed in the top of the fifth as Lawrence starter Cole Teague, who cruised through the first four innings without allowing a hit or a walk, suddenly and inexplicably lost control.

“We all knew it was only a matter of time before we got to their pitching and it just happened to be the next inning,” Dubay said.

Panthers catcher Josh Cholewa singled to lead off the inning before Teague walked the next three batters. No. 9 hitter-left fielder Josh Hamel and third baseman Chris Hart followed with back-to-back, two-run singles through the drawn-in infield on the left side.

Justin Roderick came on in relief to prevent further scoring, but the Panthers clawed back for some more runs in the seventh.

The Panthers drew six straight walks from Roderick and Jed Johnson before Waterville pitcher Josh Dubay decided to join in the fun with a two-run single to right center. A sacrifice fly by Hamel closed the scoring.

The ‘Dogs did manage to inject a little drama back in the game in the bottom of the seventh as two of the first three pinch-hitters reached base. Corey Pelletier then got on with the help of the second error of the inning and the bases were loaded for Josh Richard.

Richard laced a two-run, ground rule double to left center before Hotham followed with his second of the game to plate two more.

Dubay dusted himelf off and ended Lawrence’s threat by retiring the next two batters on a flyout and a weak grounder to first.

“We made a couple mistakes in that last inning,” said Whitten. “But sometimes that happens when you’re up by a lot and you start to get too comfortable.”

It also happens to young teams.

“Yeah, I keep trying to tell people we’re pretty young,” Whitten said. “We have sophomores on the plate, at third, on the mound – a freshman at second – and a couple more sophomores in the outfield.”

Senior shortstop Chad Hart, one of the few grizzled Waterville veterans, went 2-for-2 with an RBI. Dubay improved to 2-0 with a six-hitter, walking one batter and striking out six.

Purple Panthers 11, Bulldogs 6

Waterville (5-0) Lawrence (3-2)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Chr. Hart, 3b 3 1 1 2 Pelletier, ss 4 1 0 0

Vigue, 2b 4 1 1 0 Richard, 2b 4 1 2 2

Parman, cf 3 1 1 0 Hotham, 1b-cf 4 1 2 2

Carpenter, 1b 3 1 0 1 Teague, p 2 0 1 0

Cholewa, c 3 2 1 1 Roderick, p-1b 2 0 0 0

Cha. Hart, ss 2 2 2 1 Mitchell, dh 4 1 0 0

Dubay, p 3 1 1 2 Johnson, 3b-p 0 0 0 0

Cornforth, dh 1 1 0 1 Adams, lf-c 3 0 0 0

Johansmeier,rf 1 0 0 0 LeClair, c-3b 2 0 0 0

a-Poulin 1 0 0 0 b-Finch 1 0 0 0

Hamel, lf 3 1 1 3 Thibodeau, cf-lf 2 0 0 0

c-Hanes 1 1 0 0

Gibbs, rf 2 0 1 0

d-Holmes 0 1 0 0

Totals 27 11 8 11 Totals 31 6 6 4

a-struck out for Cornforth in sixth

b-struck out for LeClair in seventh

c-reached on error for Thibodeau in seventh

d-walked for Gibbs in seventh

Waterville 000 050 6 – 11

Lawrence 000 200 4 – 6

E – Chr. Hart 2, Cha. Hart 2 2B – Cha. Hart; Richard, Hotham 2 LOB – Waterville 6; Lawrence 5 DP – Vigue-Cha. Hart-Carpenter SB – Chr. Hart, Dubay SF – Hamel

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Waterville

Dubay (W,2-0) 7 6 6 4 1 6

Lawrence

Teague (L,1-1) 4 1/3 6 5 5 3 3

Roderick 1 2/3 1 4 4 4 3

Johnson 1 1 2 2 3 0

WP – Dubay PB – Cholewa; LeClair TIME – 2:04 ATTENDANCE – 172