ROCKPORT — Through seven innings of play in Monday evening’s Cape Ann League baseball clash between Rockport and Essex Tech, the Vikings had yet to allow a hit.
They weren’t able to capitalize much offensively, however, clinging to a one-run lead as they looked to close things out. And then, things started to sputter for the hosts.
Three straight walks loaded the bases for the Hawks, and a fourth sent the tying run home. Rockport was able to stop the bleeding with consecutive strikeouts from relief pitcher Josiah Whitley, but Essex Tech finally got a hit in the eighth and plated the winning run before shutting the door in the bottom of the frame for a 2-1 triumph.
It was certainly a tough loss to swallow for a Vikings’ squad that is right on the cusp of a Division 5 playoff berth, but head coach John Parisi couldn’t fault his team’s effort.
“We gave up our first hit in the eighth inning, so our pitchers did their job,” said Parisi, who got a great start from Ben Sperry. “We had runners in scoring position a number of times and we didn’t come through; we weren’t clutch.
“But our goal lately has been to be in games in the seventh inning and we did that and I’m proud of our effort. We did a nice job on Senior Night, just came up a little short.”
Making his first pitching appearance in over a month after recovering from an elbow injury, Sperry performed admirably without missing a beat.
The junior southpaw struck out nine batters over 6 1/3 innings, allowing no hits and walking seven. He spotted his pitches well and had Essex Tech batters on their heels, largely rolling through those first six innings unscathed.
“Had had a lot of life on his fastball,” said Parisi. “I was hoping he could finish the game there, and hindsight’s 20/20; probably could’ve pulled him ahead of the (7th) inning but who knows what would’ve happened. I’m proud of his effort; he hasn’t been out there in a while and he put us on his back and carried us.”
As good as he was all evening, Sperry eventually lost his command a bit in the seventh, walking three of the four batters he faced to load the bags. With one out, Whitley then came on in relief and was already behind in the count, 1-0, with Essex Tech’s Liam Waterman ultimately drawing another walk to send in the tying run.
Whitley settled in from there with two straight Ks, but his offense went down in order in the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks’ then plated the winning run on an RBI single to right from Jackson Taylor in the eighth, and although Whitley mashed a two-out double (his third hit of the day) in the bottom half of the stanza to help his cause, Rockport couldn’t quite muster up another run.
It’s been that type of season for the Vikings, who sat at No. 31 in the most recent MIAA Division 5 power rankings and now sport a 5-14 record with one game remaining (Tuesday at Amesbury). The hope is that their strength of schedule — the majority of the teams they play are in higher divisions — will weigh heavily enough to garner them a shot in the playoffs. If they get in, Parisi is confident his team can make a run.
“If we get in we’re definitely gonna make some noise,” said Parisi. “We’d want to be on the other side of (the bracket) as Georgetown, that’s for sure because they can play. But we’re definitely battle tested coming out of the Cape Ann League.”
Regardless of what happens, Parisi can sleep soundly knowing his five seniors gave it everything they had and paved the way for the future of Rockport baseball. Those five — Ty Bouchie, Jameson Colbert, Caleb Francis, CJ Brousseau and Tommy Rice — were celebrated on Senior Night Monday evening.
“They’re all program guys, most of them have been here with us since 8th grade so they’ve been playing for five years now,” said Parisi. “All great kids with a really bright future. Three of them are captains (Bouchie, Colbert and Francis), and all are great kids doing a nice job of leading. As they go and their energy goes, we go, especially our catcher (CJ Brousseau), he’s been great.”
Should it qualify for the tournament, Rockport will rely on a number of different arms including Sperry, Whitley, Chase Wheat, Brady Murray, Patrick Reardon and Warren Adams. The latter seems to have found something offensively, too. He mashed a key double in Monday’s loss and eventually scored the Vikings’ only run on a sacrifice fly from Bouchie in the third. Adams has a big bat and has battled hard to climb out of a recent hitting slump.
“I think he’s one of the best hitters in the league. I really do,” Parisi said of Adams. “He’s snake bitten early, in a slump … we tried to move him down the order to work through it and he did, and that was one of the best adjustments he’s made all year is going all the way, just staying back and working the opposite field.”