Baseball Beats Cushing, Clinches Playoff Berth

Big Red baseball played their 16th game of the year this Saturday against Cushing Academy, clinching a playoff berth in a 3-0 win.The boys battled through the rain to bring home an important victory on the road as they prepare for the New England Championships this weekend. It was a good day of pitching for Exeter as senior Curtis Arsenault scattered just four hits over seven innings to shut out the Purple Penguins.This marked Arsenault’s second consecutive complete game effort on the mound and his emergence as an ace on a strong Big Red pitching staff. Alongside Arsenault and senior captain Hunter Carey, Exeter goes into every game knowing that the pitcher on the mound will give them a chance to win.Saturday was no different; Arsenault mixed his fastball and curveball with ease to keep the Cushing hitters off balance at the plate while keeping an impressive command of his pitches.Although Big Red yielded three disappointing errors, Arsenault proved strong enough to pitch out of any jam that he got into, and he spun a gem backed by a home run off the bat of Carey.“I think our pitcher was the strongest point of our game on the day,” upper Quinn Larkin said. “Curtis was easily able to shut down the strong Cushing bats, and he only got into one three ball count in the whole game.“While we had a decent game defensively, we could have hit a lot more,” he continued. “Throughout the season we have gotten the hits when they counted, but we simply need to be more consistent with our hits. We have a balanced order; we just need to string more of our hits together.”The game improved Big Red baseball to an impressive 10 wins and six losses. They begin the New England tournament this weekend, and will finish up the season the weekend after with a home game against Andover.“We played well as any baseball team would with the type of pitching that was displayed against Cushing,” prep Trevor Cosgrove said.“Curtis was phenomenal, pitching a shutout, and even though we could have displayed a tad more offense, Hunter’s two run home runs gave the offense the needed boost to get another run and close out the game.”The boys now look forward to the New England tournament on Saturday, where the boys hope to erase the memory of a first-round knockout last year against Worcester Academy.So far, Big Red's season has been highlighted by strong pitching and clutch hitting.The team has looked strong after fighting through a three-game funk in late April and early May, when they were swept in a double header against Deerfield and lost to Tabor, rebounding with a doubleheader split against rivals Andover and two consecutive wins against Berwick and Tabor.Despite a slightly disappointing offensive output (eleven runs scored in four games), the bats have come to life when necessary in order to back the lights out pitching, which has given up just six runs over the same timeframe.“The team looks as good as it ever has in recent years,” senior Mac Flaherty said. “We’re excited to play at the tournament, and hopefully we’ll go far and chalk up some memorable wins.”