AMHERST — Nate Patterson brought wicked intentions to the Earl Lorden Field mound for Wednesday’s Western Massachusetts Division 3 baseball semifinal.
“Just go straight for their throats, go right at them,” Patterson said.
He attacked the strike zone, allowing just two hits and four walks in six-plus innings in an 8-2 victory over Hoosac Valley.
Patterson struck out two, mostly allowing his defense to do the work.
“We knew coming into it the outcome of today rested on Nate Patterson’s shoulder,” Frontier coach Chris Williams said. “If he’s on, I think he’s as good as anyone in D3. I was confident he would rise to the occasion and step up today.”
Frontier reached its first Western Mass. final since winning in 2013.
The Red Hawks (17-3) will play Wahconah (15-8), which beat South Hadley in the other semifinal, at 11 a.m. Saturday at UMass.
Early offense allowed Patterson to settle in comfortably against Hoosac’s hitters.
Frontier scored two runs off Matt Koperniak in the first inning on a Brandon Bryant single.
Evan Bourque walked with one out then advanced to third on a Seth Gewanter single.
Gewanter stole second without a throw before Bryant laced a ball back up the middle to open the scoring.
“We’ve been scouting him. He’s a good pitcher, so I was thinking up the middle or right side, not trying to pull everything,” Bryant said. “It was working.”
Frontier (17-3) tacked on another three runs in the second.
Bailey Powers led off with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
He scored to make it 3-0 following a throwing error by Hoosac catcher Jake Swistak, who trying to catch Ben Arnold stealing after a walk.
Noah Barnes was hit by a pitch and Nolan Muzyka walked to load the bases.
Bourque followed with a fielder’s choice but the bases were still loaded.
Gewanter put the ball in play, but Hoosac Valley couldn’t make an accurate throw home. Two more runs scored to make it 5-0 after two innings.
“It’s tough to battle. You can’t do a lot of things,” Hoosac coach Mike Larabee said. “You’ve got to try to nibble away, and we couldn’t.”
Frontier, which didn’t collect a hit in the third or fourth innings, relaxed with a lead and Patterson throwing well.
He only allowed one hit before the seventh inning.
“I think we had a hiccup in the middle innings,” William said. “Guys sort of got a little complacent. We got everybody together and said ‘we’ve got to stay involved, we’ve got to stay on top of this.’ We put the pressure back on them, and they answered right away.”
Bryant singled to open the fifth inning.
A flyout and strikeout followed, then Powers hit his second double of the day to put Frontier up 6-0.
Arnold and Barnes walked, bringing up Muzyka with the bases loaded.
He punched a grounder between the Hoosac second baseman’s legs, scoring two more runs for an 8-0 lead.
The Hurricanes got on the board in the sixth inning.
Swistak reached on an error before Keagan McGrath singled him home to make it 8-1.
In the seventh, Patterson walked Eli Masse and Jack Sniezek singled.
That was enough for Williams, who brought in Bourque from the bullpen to record the final three outs.
“That was a matter of pitch count, just protecting his arm. He was in the high 90s and maybe even low 100s,” Williams said. “There’s no point to beat him to death out there.”
Bourque induced a groundout, then a sacrifice fly by Dahandray Sistrunk brought Hoosac within 8-2.
Noah Matrigali flew out to end the game.
The Red Hawks haven’t seen Wahconah this season but are approaching Saturday’s final with the same mindset as if they’d played South Hadley again.
“We’ve just got to keep pounding at the plate,” Bryant said. “We’re going to put a lot of runs up, and we’re going to get it done.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.