HAMILTON — Ben Holland is probably not a name that jumps out at opponents when scouting the top seeded Hamilton-Wenham baseball team.
The Generals’ second baseman and No. 9 hitter isn’t physically imposing, blindingly fast or a middle-of-the-lineup masher. What he is, though, is an extremely intelligent ballplayer who knows what to do when the situation calls for it.
Thursday night, that meant a suicide squeeze in the sixth inning of a one-run ballgame vs. upset minded Clinton High. So after teammate Ryan Fazio had tripled to deep center leading off the inning, Holland got the sign from his coaches and laid down a perfectly one-out executed bunt, pushing it to the left of Gaels hurler Brian Silvester and allowing Fazio to score easily.
That run proved vital after Clinton rallied for one of its own in the top of the seventh and had the bases loaded with two out before a fielder’s choice ended the ballgame, giving Hamilton-Wenham a 4-3 triumph in the second round of the Division 4 state playoffs.
“Our coaches prepared me for that moment,” said Holland, a junior. “We’ve been taught the right way; every single round of (batting practice) we drop down bunts. All year we’ve been playing smart baseball.”
“We’ve practiced that same situation enough that we know Benny can get it done,” echoed H-W head coach Reggie Maidment, his club now 21-1. “He did it in one of our regular season games late in the year in the same situation. He’s one of our better bunters and sees the ball really well.
“It’s winning baseball,” he continued. “That right there is all nine doing what we have to do to win a game.”
Next up for Hamilton-Wenham is Sandwich, a sneaky No. 8 seed with a deceiving 12-11 record. The Blue Knights reached the Final Four of the Division 3 tournament a year ago before dropping down to Div. 4, and will likely have staff ace Joe Coughlin ready to go against the Generals this weekend (date and time TBA).
Having now scored 209 runs in 22 games while allowing a mere 59, the Generals have won a pair of one-run contests to open the postseason, including their 1-0 victory over Advanced Math & Sciences in the opening round.
“This is who we are; regardless of the type of game we know how to win,” catcher Chase Cann said. “It’s not one kid doing everything or someone blasting home runs; it’s the whole lineup that knows how to win.”
Seventeenth-seeded Clinton (15-5) jumped on H-W starter Cormac Heney with two runs in the top of the first while forcing him to throw 33 pitches. Silvester took a slider the other way and over the fence in right for a two-run blast, scoring teammate Grady Frisch ahead of him.
Heney (2 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 51 pitches) hung tough and retired six of the next seven hitters he faced before switching spots with shortstop Owen Waddell for the rest of the evening. Waddell allowed just three hits and struck out three while throwing just 45 pitches. Both hurlers will be eligible to go against Sandwich.
The Generals got their offense going against Silvester, the Gaels’ Bentley-bound staff ace, in the third inning. Holland singled to third on a slow roller, took second on leadoff man Caden Schrock’s double down the line in left, and both runners came home when Cann (who’s headed off to Boston University) knocked a sharp single past the second baseman and into center field.
“It was 3-and-2 and I had worked the count a bit,” said Cann, “so I got wide and tried to put the ball in play. It worked out well.”
With two out, cleanup hitter Griffin Hawkins ripped a single off the shortstop’s glove, bringing Cann around to score.
It stayed that way until the sixth when Fazio, a senior who will be attending UConn, tripled and Holland’s squeeze sent him scurrying home.
“I saw a first-pitch fastball, and (Silvester) made the mistake of giving me another one,” said Fazio, whose hit came up just short of the 420-foot mark in deepest center. “I take a lot of swings, and that’s the swing right there that I’m working on.”
“Foz has been so steady for us, and we know he’s going to give us good at-bats,” acknowledged Maidment. “He’s played a lot of baseball — Beverly Post (331), ITL with Hamilton — so we have full confidence in him.”
Clinton loaded the bases in the seventh and got within a run on a Josh Nelson sacrifice fly to Schrock in center field before Waddell got the last batter to ground to third, where Fazio flipped to Holland at second for the game-ending force out.
“Our best baseball is yet to come,” said Cann. “We’ve seen hints of it during the season, but we haven’t played our best yet. It’s coming.”
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