Boys’ Baseball Breaks to Andover
This past Saturday, the boys’ varsity baseball team traveled to Andover for an intense double header matchup. Unfortunately, Andover won both games: 6-1 in the first game and 1-0 in the second. The team lost in both their games against Andover last season and hopes to redeem itself at E/A to show off the hard work they are putting in during practices.
The players knew that Andover was going to be aggressive on the field and practiced working through situations where Andover might steal a base or lay down a bunt. Coach Dana Barbin had the team practice defending against quick base running while also employing that strategy themselves to mirror Andover’s type of play. “We practiced running the bases like crazy people,” senior and captain Sam Willman recalled.
One of the standout players was senior Josh Fuller. He hit a double to start off both games in the double header and “continued to dominate on the mound,” lower Owen McKiernan said. Senior Cade Napier also pitched well, according to his teammates he throws “strong and direct.”
Throughout the game, the boys’ defense was strong—a result of their focus during practices on defending against aggressive base-runners. But the team didn’t capitalize on other offensive opportunities to prevent the score gap from increasing. “We could’ve had better approaches to every at-bat and made less mistakes,” upper Cade Thompson explained. The team was up in the first game 1-0 but their lead got away from them when Andover scored six runs. “We lacked focus,” senior and captain Oliver Bergeron stated. The team only managed to get one run in 14 innings, so the team “could have definitely tried to have a better approach at the plate,” added McKiernan.
In upcoming practices, the team will be focusing on more situational defense and getting runners in to home plate. They will also work on endurance so that they can maintain a strong play throughout the entire game ath their next match. Another focus will be on hitting, especially reading the play of the game at the moment and improving situational hitting. Limiting errors is another thing the boys are going to focus on.
The next two teams the boys have lined up to play are NMH and Tilton, both strong competition. Previously in the season, the team beat NMH 18-8 and the boys are hoping dominate the team again in their future meet-up.