Eagles outlast Millionaires, earn season’s first

Mt. Everett’s Ryan Ullrich begins his slide to the plate as Lenox catcher Carl Zurrin watches the throw from reliever Bobby Fuore bounce away from him in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s baseball game in Sheffield.
G. Spencer Osborne
Mt. Everett’s Ryan Ullrich begins his slide to the plate as Lenox catcher Carl Zurrin watches the throw from reliever Bobby Fuore bounce away from him in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s baseball game in Sheffield.

By G. Spencer Osborne
ozzie@berkshirerecord.net

SHEFFIELD — Senior Ryan Ullrich’s seventh-inning dash to the plate on a fielder’s-choice grounder and a misplay of the throw home helped Mt. Everett’s varsity baseball team break a 10-10 deadlock and claim an 11-10 triumph over the visiting Lenox Millionaires Tuesday afternoon.

The Eagles, who lost 17-5 in their season and home opener to Gateway the previous day, got their offense in motion early against Millionaire starting pitcher A.J. Lagarce. Their first run came in the bottom of the first, when No. 1 hitter/second baseman Brandon Stubbs, who got aboard with a leadoff single, scored on No. 3 hitter/shortstop Conor Gallagher’s groundout to second.

Lenox, playing its first game of the season, tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second. With one out, No. 5 hitter/third baseman Greg Frost, who got a free pass to first by being hit with a pitch, came home when third baseman Tom Danz misplayed No. 7 hitter/left fielder Bobby Fuore’s two-out grounder. But the Millionaires got no further, as No. 9 hitter/catcher Courtney Lewis flied out to right with runners in scoring position.

Mt. Everett’s first breakaway came in the bottom of the second. No. 8 hitter/center fielder Ryan Ward and Ullrich provided the fuel to start the three run rally as recipients of one-out walks. Stubbs’ line-drive single to right center sent both runners home. Stubbs later scored on No. 2 hitter/first baseman Jordan Rote’s groundout to shortstop.

The Eagles’ 4-1 lead didn’t last forever. After a scoreless third, the Millionaires cut that lead to a two-run margin in their half of the fourth. Designated hitter Forrest Goplin, who got on with a leadoff infield single and made it to second on a wild pitch during Bobby Fuore’s at-bat, got around on groundouts by Bobby Fuore and No. 8 hitter/shortstop Dan Fuore.

The hosts’ response to having a 4-2 lead was to double that lead before the fourth ended. In the bottom of the fourth, Ullrich reached on DF’s errant throw to first, stole two bases during Stubbs’ at-bat and scored on Stubbs’ line-drive single to center. Mt. Everett went ahead 6-2 when Stubbs, having stolen second off reliever Dan Kleederman — the senior started the game in center and traded places with Lagarce — during Rote’s at-bat, scored from second by beating first sacker Eric Kirby’s throw to the plate moments after Lewis’ throw to first retired Rote following the latter’s grounder in front of the plate.

Lenox, which had stranded five runners through five innings while battling Eagle starter Mike Lombardi, started to experience more success against him at the plate in the sixth. With one out, Goplin’s single to left center and BF’s fly-ball double to right center set the stage for DF’s fly-ball triple to left over new left fielder Kassel Nightt that sent Goplin and BF home. DF dented the plate on replacement catcher Carl Zurrin’s fly-ball out to center to cut Mt. Everett’s lead to 6-5.

The Eagles’ next breakaway came in the bottom of the sixth. Ward led off by beating Kleederman to the bag moments after hitting a grounder that Kirby had to leave first to field before throwing to Kleederman to finish the play. Ward, who used Kirby’s drop of Kleederman’s pickoff throw and a passed ball during Ullrich’s at-bat, scored on Ullrich’s fly-ball out to right.

With two outs and the bases loaded because of singles by replacement first sacker Wyatt Ronan and Gallagher and a walk to Danz, designated hitter Evan Holdredge drove an 0-1 pitch deep to right center for a three-run single that cleaned off the bases and inflated Mt. Everett’s lead to 10-5. But the Eagles stranded Holdredge and Lombardi (single to right center) when Nightt took a called third strike to end the frame.

The seventh: Lagarce started off the Lenox half of the frame by making it to second on Nightt’s error on his fly ball. After No. 2 hitter/second baseman Mark Millett’s line-drive single to left sent Lagarce to third, Goplin, with runners at second and third and one out, skied a 3-2 pitch into center over Ward’s head that allowed Lagarce and Millett to score.

After Goplin scored on BF’s ground-ball single to center, BF, who made it to second on the relay throw to the infield before moving to third on Zurrin’s groundout to second, scored moments ahead of his brother when Kleederman drove a single into center that created the 10-10 tie.

At that point, Mt. Everett head coach Jesse Carpenter went to the hill and brought Gallagher in to pitch, sent Lombardi to third, Ward to first, Stubbs to shortstop and Danz to second.

Gallagher needed just two pitches to get Kirby to hit a grounder to shortstop to end that lead-killing rally.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ward flied out to center before Ullrich and Stubbs walked. At that point, Lenox head coach Kevin Downer went to the mound and brought in BF to pitch, sent Lagarce to left and Kleederman to center.

Ronan saw Ullrich steal third on BF’s first pitch. After fouling off a pitch and taking a ball to run the count to 2-1, Ronan hit a one-hopper back to BF, who quickly threw to Zurrin at the plate. But the ball bounced off Zurrin’s glove and to his left as Ullrich sprinted toward him and completed his slide with a dent in the plate that marked the game-winning run that sparked a mob scene by Ullrich’s teammates near the plate.

Other openers: Monument Mountain hosted Lee in the teams’ season opener on Tuesday, and the contest was the stage for senior Nate Sermini’s 14-strikeout performance in a five-inning scoreless stint that pushed the Spartans to a 4-1 win.

Sermini and reliever Dan Bailey, who got the save, combined to surrender just one hit.

Monument broke the scoreless tie in the fourth with a three-run rally. Scott Kravitz doubled and had a run batted in, while teammate Dan Passetto also contributed to the Spartan cause with two hits.

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