NORTHAMPTON — Hunter Salem’s mystifying pitches didn’t materialize against Minnechaug.
The Northampton senior hadn’t lost a game he started all season entering Wednesday’s baseball game, compiling a 6-1 record with the one defeat in relief in a doubleheader.
His fastball didn’t snap like usual.
Breaking balls failed to dive as commanded.
It was still almost enough in a 3-2 loss to Minnechaug.
Salem struck out five, walked three and allowed three runs on six hits over six innings, taking the loss.
“I had a really bad outing. I couldn’t locate my fastball,” Salem said. “But I did the best with what I had. Usually my game is to overpower the hitters with my slider, but it just wasn’t working, so I had to fall back on something.”
Minnechaug (11-8) hadn’t seen Salem before but knew he relied on breaking pitches.
The Falcons wanted to make the future Babson pitcher grind and wait for fastballs to hit.
They put two on in the second inning on a Nate Espaul single and a Nick Scibelli double, and took the lead 1-0 on an RBI single by Joo Lucas.
“Sometimes it worked today, sometimes it didn’t,” Minnechaug coach Mike Netkovick said.
Northampton (12-6) took the lead in the third inning.
Andy Grygorcewicz walked then stole second.
Tim Horton slammed an RBI triple to tie the game then scored on a single by Hector DeJesus to put Northampton up 2-1.
DeJesus would have given the Blue Devils a third run had Will O’Connor not been tagged out attempting to stretch a single into a double.
“We did the big stuff OK, but in a game like this we didn’t execute a couple little things,” Northampton coach Mark Baldwin said. “Any one of those things didn’t necessarily hurt, but in a one-run game when you put them together it adds up.”
Minnechaug regained the lead in the fifth inning.
Jack Douglass walked, stole second base and moved to third on a passed ball.
Steve Pickering brought him home with a single and scored on a Matt LaBranche double to put Minnechaug up 3-2.
“I was leaving the ball up,” Salem said. “My fastball just wasn’t there, I had less velo(city). When you leave the ball up and have less velo, they hit it.”
Northampton didn’t count itself out with nine outs still to work with.
The Blue Devils put runners on base in the fifth and sixth inning but couldn’t push a tying run across.
“They’re a pretty confident group,” Baldwin said. “We’ve come back several times this year when it looked like we weren’t going to.”
Brian Tessicini had other ideas. Minnechaug’s starter threw all seven innings, striking out four with two hits and two walks.
“We’re confident with Brian. If we can get him a couple runs he’s usually in a position where a couple runs is enough,” Netkovic said. “More times than not if we can get him that kind of run support we feel we’ve got a pretty good shot.”
Salem typically puts Northampton in the same position.
His six wins have come against Pope Francis, Central, West Springfield twice, Ludlow and Chicopee Comp.
Pope Francis and West Springfield have qualified for the postseason, while the five teams have a combined record of 48-45.
“When he pitches we have a chance to beat anyone at any time,” Baldwin said. “We just need to score a bit more.”