HATFIELD — Smith Academy’s Brett Gratz stepped to the plate in the top of the seventh inning with two outs and the tying run on second base. Liam Pitrat hit an RBI single in the previous at-bat.
After Gratz fought off a couple of pitches, the left-handed hitter laced a fastball to the opposite field past a diving shortstop for a base hit. Pitrat rounded third base after taking second on a passed ball, and Smith Academy head coach Mike Afflitto took a chance by sending him home.
Belchertown left fielder Jack Mankowsky hurled a throw in to the plate. Nathan Ayers caught the throw on a hop, but Pitrat executed a head first-hook slide that dodged the tag and tied the game.
“I was a little nervous. Wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I kept my swing close and put one in the gap between third and short,” Gratz said.
Gratz came around to score during the next at-bat with Owen Baranoski at the plate thanks to a miscue that gave Smith Academy the lead. That capped off a comeback win for the Falcons over Belchertown on Tuesday, 8-7.
“One thing we’ve been praising since the first day of practice is we are going to play 21 outs. As long as we have an out left, a strike left, we’re still in the game,” Afflitto said.
Early on, a couple of blunders in the field allowed Belchertown (3-1) to gain a lead. In the first inning, Chase Kupinsky reached on an error, and Victor Camerota drew a walk. Zachery Bohnet followed up with a RBI single to drive in both of them.
Smith Academy (2-1) cut the lead in half with a one-out triple in the first from Matt Bouley. However, the Orioles answered in the ensuing half inning with a RBI single from Camerota to make it 3-1.
“Early on, we didn’t play our best baseball. A couple of sloppy plays spotted (Belchertown) some runs,” Afflitto said.
With two outs in the third, Pitrat came up with two runners in scoring position and laced a double to tie the game. Belchertown answered again with three runs in the bottom of the third. Jacob Torna led off with a single. After consecutive strikeouts, Matt Soja hit a bloop single into center field.
Both runners advanced on a passed ball and scored from an error by Baronoski on the mound. Kupinsky singled to bring around Mankowsky and give Belchertown a 6-3 lead.
Smith Academy cut the deficit to just one in the fifth inning. Carter Woodward drew a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored with a double from Bouley. A groundout advanced Bouley to third, and he crossed home plate on a passed ball to make it a 6-5 game.
After that, Orioles head coach Tony Pierno brought in senior captain Ryan French in attempt to preserve the lead and win the ballgame. Belchertown plated an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when French scored on an error.
In the top of the seventh, Smith Academy finally got to French and rallied for the three runs needed to earn its second win in this young season.
“We were just looking to be aggressive early. We know we like to hit fastballs, so if they’re coming we can’t wait. We looked to be a little more aggressive than we had been earlier in the game,” Afflitto said.
Belchertown falls to 3-1, whereas Smith Academy improves to 2-1. Both teams return to action on Wednesday. The Falcons will on Frontier, while the Orioles will battle Mohawk.