Late Rally Propels Baseball Over Strong Cushing Team
Baseball had their eighth game of the season on Saturday against a strong Cushing Academy at home last Saturday. They were able to come away with a 4-1 victory, their sixth win of the season.
Senior captain Hunter Carey pitched a phenomenal game for Big Red, allowing just three hits and one earned run. Carey struck out seven and walked none, taking home yet another win.
Exeter was down 1-0 until the sixth inning because of a second inning home run by the Purple Penguins. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, senior Matt Girard drilled a double deep to center field. Upper Griffin Py pinch-hit for prep Trevor Cosgrove, and Py hit a single, which pushed Girard to third. The hits kept on coming for Exeter, with upper Joey Hebl splitting the outfielders for another double to center. Cushing then intentionally loaded the bases, walking prep Spenser Young. Upper Nate Dow made Cushing pay, slamming Exeter’s third double of the frame into right field and driving in two more runs. Senior Curtis Arsenault then reached on an error that scored Young. Big Red put up four runs in the inning and closed out the game with a perfect top of the seventh.
In the end, the real difference between the two schools came in the hits column. Cushing mustered just a measly three hits while Exeter chalked up eight. Exeter also took advantage of their sixth inning rally. Big Red led in the walks column as well, with three, one of which came around to score, compared to none from Cushing. With nearly twice the total bases of Cushing, Exeter recorded a valuable victory, raising their record to 6-2 going into their game yesterday against Bridgton.
Upper Tommy Miller summed up the boys’ performance over the weekend. "We have been playing pretty well for the past couple of games, but I think that we need to get our bats going earlier in the game and keep the intensity going throughout," he said. "On Saturday, we had one clutch inning with many members of the team helping out, but those types of innings need to happen earlier in the game. Our pitching has been outstanding throughout the season so far, so we really need to get the bats going to help our pitchers out."
On Saturday, Exeter. baseball will face a tough challenge with an away double-header against Deerfield Academy. Last season, the team split their double header with Deerfield 5-0 and 6-9, so the team will expect a similarly tight challenge this Saturday in west Massachusetts. Big Red will have the opportunity to record their tenth victory of the season with a twin bill sweep.