Baseball Splits Double Header With Big Blue

Baseball played their thirteenth and fourteenth games of the season this Saturday, with a doubleheader at rival Andover. The games were the boys’ first and second tilts in a three-game season series against Andover this spring.The Andover doubleheader has become a yearly tradition between Exeter and Andover, and for the last three years, Exeter has split the twin bill.  Exeter continued the trend and won their first game 4-2, but fell in the second game, 1-0.In the first game of the day, Andover got off to an early lead with a run in the third. Despite a Big Red fight back in the top of the sixth that tied the game, Andover took the lead again in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 lead.  Going into the top of the seventh and final inning, Exeter was down by a run, but they rallied for three runs and came away with a 4-2 victory.Big Red baseball was less fortunate in their second game, as they lost 1-0.  Even though senior Curtis Arsenault battled through injury to pitch all seven innings for his team, Exeter’s bats were unable to overcome Andover’s strong pitching, and Arsenault was charged with a tough luck loss despite his impressive start on the mound.Despite the loss, the team benefited from two spectacular performances on the mound on Saturday. Senior captain Hunter Carey incredibly threw over 150 pitches in the first game to earn the win.Arsenault’s complete game effort was equally impressive, especially considering that he had been nursing an injury after hurting his hamstring in a double header at Deerfield earlier on in the year.The boys left Andover encouraged by their pitching and clutch hitting. “We worked hard on staying focused for the full 14 innings, since it's easy to check-out midway through a long day,” upper Griffin Py said. “In the first game we had some clutch hits in the top of the 7th, which helped us to win dramatically. Hunter was an animal on the mound, refusing to give in to fatigue.”Py also praised the team for their efforts during the second game of their twin bill, despite the 1-0 loss. “The second game, although we didn't get the win, we played a solid game, staying focused and keeping mistakes to a minimum,” he said. “Curtis battled through an injury to pitch seven great innings for us, allowing only one run. Even though we split the two games, it was good to get us back on track to have a strong second half of the season.”Senior Max Eaton agreed.  “Even though we were tired, we were able to persevere and get three runs in the seventh inning in the first game.  Even though we lost the second game, we weren’t too disappointed because their pitcher almost threw a no-hitter,” he said. “We did well staying focused throughout the day, but we need to be more aggressive at the plate and give our pitchers more run support.”The boys will look to continue their strong pitching and hope to break out of their team wide funk at the plate as they travel to Cushing on Saturday. Exeter already met the Purple Penguins earlier this season, and Big Red will hope to repeat their 4-1 April triumph over Cushing this weekend. With the New England Tournament coming up in less than two weeks, a string of victories could give the boys some valuable momentum heading into their shot at the championship. Hopefully the boys can make a deep run in the tournament.