Bishop Fenwick hosted Newburyport in a closely-contested baseball game Thursday afternoon – one that had a little bit of everything, aka, infielders getting run over and a close call at home plate.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders, who just didn’t hit the ball at the right times, Newburyport spoiled their season-opener 4-3.
Fenwick held a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning before Newburyport’s leadoff hitter got on base with a single. Then, some physicality occurred.
Newburyport’s next batter bunted to advance the runner, and as he was running to first, Fenwick’s second baseman was covering and got run over after the out, causing the ball to come out. This allowed the base runner to reach third.
“The runner has the right to just run through the bag, which he did. Our second baseman said he lost the ball a little bit in the sun so it took him a second to see it, and catch it, and [he] didn’t have time to get out of the way,” Matt Antonelli said. “Kind of unfortunate.”
The runner eventually scored the tying run (3-3) later that inning on a wild pitch.
Fast forward to the next inning. Newburyport had a runner on second with one out before the next batter hit a pop fly to right field. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, their right fielder fell and the runner on second scored to take a 4-3 lead.
“Our right fielder caught the ball and kind of fell, so by the time he got up and got it in, we were pretty far out there. I think we could have gotten the ball in faster than we did,” Antonelli said. “Heads up baserunning by them… their base runner could really run, so [a] good guy for them to have and a good call by their third base coach to send him.”
Antonelli thought his team was “too inconsistent,” and said the fourth inning was “the only inning we really had.”
Let’s go there. In the bottom of the fourth, the Crusaders showed their potential on offense.
Carter McFadden got things going with a single to right field with one out, and the inning ended with Josh Scali putting the ball in play before a Newburyport error led to Fenwick taking a 3-1 lead.
Despite the big inning, Fenwick’s offense didn’t produce enough.
“Too many uncompetitive outs, I think, [and] too many easy pop-ups. I think we had six hits on the day and they were kind of scattered. We had that one inning where we figured it out, but [we] couldn’t get it going after that,” Antonelli said.
Antonelli credited Newburyport for its overall performance, and for making it hard on his team.
“I thought their (Clippers) arms threw really well, too. The lefty did well and kept us off-balance,” Antonelli said. “They made the plays when they needed to. Whether it was laying a bunt down, making a play defensively, or coming up with a knock, they made the plays and we didn’t.”
One Fenwick highlight, however, came from Jacob Behn early in the sixth inning. With two outs and a runner on third, a short flyball was between second base and center field. Behn made up distance before stretching out and catching the ball to leave the man on third stranded.
“Incredible play. The best thing about him – he hasn’t played much outfield. Today was actually the first time he played outfield for us,” Antonelli said. “He made that big play and a nice running catch earlier in the game. You can tell he wanted the ball hit to him. He’s not playing in his primary position, but he wanted to make a play.”
Although the Crusaders didn’t get the start they wanted, it’s a long season, and Antonelli is happy with what he’s seen thus far.
“I think our team has a lot of talent. We have a bunch of senior pitchers and returning players,” Antonelli said. “We just need to play with consistency and with more confidence.”
