SOUTH DEERFIELD — Both Frontier Regional and Hopkins Academy refused to lose on Tuesday.
Whether it was a line drive double play committed by each team to keep the game tied in the late innings, a Frontier relay to nab a runner out at home in the sixth inning, a diving catch with the potential game-winning runner on in the seventh by Hopkins center fielder Cody West, or an outfield assist to third base by West in the eighth, neither squad wanted to give in during another chapter of an epic rivalry.
It ended up being a rare mishap that put the extra-inning game to an end. With Frontier’s Tyler Dubreuil on second base and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Tyler Baranowski hit a soft ground ball to second base. The throw to first rose high and out of play, allowing Dubreuil to walk home and give the Redhawks a 4-3 victory.
“Both teams were definitely pumped up the whole game,” said Frontier coach Chris Williams. “We were ‘rah-rah’ in and out throughout the game, which I appreciate, and that’s critical for a good team.”
Scoring for each team arrived early, but not often. The Golden Hawks’ Cody West, Patrick Fitzgibbons, Cooper Beckwith, and Dominic Alosi strung together four singles in the first inning to plate a pair of runs.
After a scoreless first inning from the Redhawks’ offense, the hosts struck effectively in the second. With one out, Aidan Drury and Sam Schreiber hit back-to-back singles, then Iain Spearance walked to load the bases. After the second out of the inning was made, Dubreuil walked to forcein a run, then Baranowski hit a two-run double to give Frontier a 3-2 lead.
Hopkins pitcher Andrew Ciaglo and Frontier pitcher Baranowski both hit their groove after the second frame. Ciaglo did not allow a run for the rest of his start, as he wound up tossing 6 2/3 innings.
Baranowski allowed just one base runner from the sec ond inning through the fourth, and got the first two outs of the fifth inning. But, after Chase Earle walked, James Fitzgibbons hammered a line drive through the left-center gap. It kept rolling so that Earle was able to score from first on Fitzgibbons’s double and tie the game 3-3.
After the Golden Hawks knotted the game up, neither team scored until extra innings. Ciaglo and Baranowski put on a competitive duel with great defensive support.
“When guys score runs against us, they have to earn them,” Williams said. “I thought our defense picked [Baranowski] up when we needed to. We made three plays at the plate to get outs — that was huge… It was a total team effort defensively.”
Dubreuil made the necessary difficult plays that prevented base runners. In the fourth inning, on a soft ground ball, he caught a bad hop by his left ear and fired accurately for the inning’s second out.
In the sixth inning, Dubreuil provided a clean backhanded stop on a hard-hit ground ball, which provided Frontier the first out of the inning after a solid throw to first base.
“Tyler Dubreuil — he’s our defensive superstar,” Williams said. “There’s nobody, as far as I’m concerned, in Western Mass. who plays better defensive shortstop than him.”
In the top of the seventh, Hopkins put runners on first and third with no outs. On a ground ball to third base, the ball was thrown home to nab the runner for the first out of the inning. Then, a line drive up the middle was grabbed by Dubreuil, who tapped second base for a twin killing that ended the inning.
Frontier had a runner on first base in the bottom of the inning when Schreiber hit a hard fly ball to the right center field gap. If it fell, a Redhawks’ walk-off was likely, but Alex West dove for a game-saving grab to bring the game to extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, there was a runner on first and one out for the Redhawks. While Dylan Martin was attempting a steal of second base, Dubreuil hit a hard line drive that dropped into center field. With Martin already running, he went for third base, but Cody West fired a perfect strike to the third baseman and got him out for the second out of the inning.
Dubreuil stole second base however, setting up the walk-off victory and capping the Redhawks’ season sweep after they won a 4-1 decision last month in Hadley.
Smith Vocational 6, Mahar 0 — For the second time this season, Race Drobiak didn’t allow a hit on the mound for the Vikings.
Drobiak struck out nine and walked just one, tossing his second no-hitter of the season in a Smith Vocational 6-0 independent victory on Tuesday.
Drobiak needed just 73 pitches to toss all seven innings. The Vikings got all the offense he would need in the bottom of the third, scoring three times, then tacked on two more in the fifth and one in the sixth.
Cole Boisvert scored two runs for Smith, which had four hits offensively. Drobiak, Caelan Finnie, James Lavallee, Caden Payne and Carter Blanchette all had an RBI in the victory.
Hampshire 8, Athol 3 — Hampshire’s Jack Boyle struck out seven in five innings of work on the mound and allowed three hits and four walks in an 8-3 win over Athol. Will Hogan struck out one, walked one, and allowed one hit in two innings of relief.
Justin Meunier and Jake Sicard each had a hit in the victory for the Raiders.
South Hadley 4, Palmer 3 — The Tigers scored all four runs in the bottom of the first inning and held off a late charge to secure the 4-3 victory on Tuesday.
Palmer scored three runs in the top of the sixth but couldn’t pull level.
John Viola tossed six innings with five strikeouts to earn the win for South Hadley, while Nate Carillon pitched a scoreless seventh for the save.
The Tigers had just two hits in the win – singles from Ben Foley and Matt McDermott. Matt Drobiak drove in two runs.
Easthampton 2, Greenfield 1 —Justin Colpack led the Eagles with two hits. Nick Lloyd added a hit for Easthampton.
Nick Jolicoeur picked up the save for the Eagles after Winter Roske pitched the first 5 1/3 innings.