GREENFIELD — David Carey was nearly flawless on the mound for Greenfield Post 81 on Wednesday against Belchertown Post 239.
Carey had his stuff going early and often, as he went the distance, allowed just two hits and struck out 13 as Post 81 blanked Belchertown, 7-0, at Vets Field.
The win improves Greenfield to 12-2 on the season, bringing it within one game of Belchertown (13-2), which sits atop the Western Mass. American American Senior Division standings.
“I was locked in from the first inning,” Carey said. “Starting off with two strikeouts was huge. My command was there tonight on my fastball. Sometimes I get a little wild. We needed revenge from the last time [a 7-4 Belchertown win on June 26]. We owed them one.”
Carey had two strikeouts in every inning until the seventh and allowed just one other base runner after hitting Nate Mills in the fourth. Mills was the lone Belchertown player to record a hit off him, knocking a single in the second and another base hit in the seventh.
“I didn’t think it was possible with his build but he was throwing harder than I’ve ever seen him throw before,” Post 81 coach Kevin Luippold said of Carey. “It’s cool to see the look in his eyes when he’s rolling. When he throws like that, I have confidence as soon as we score one run. Our defense was great behind him, too.”
Belchertown coach Jon Endelos felt Greenfield’s ace was able to keep his lineup off balance on Wednesday.
“Carey had a great game,” Endelos said. “When you compare it to our last game against him, his fastball was a lot livelier today. He was on his game today. He had his off-speed pitch going and kept us off balance. He locked in with his fastball and there were a few at bats the hook was coming and we weren’t ready for it.”
While Carey stole the show, Belchertown’s Jordan Talbot did his best to keep Post 81 held down. He kept Greenfield off the board for three innings, but the Post 81 bats came to life in the fourth.
MJ Paulin and Kyle Barnes got it going with infield base hits before Mike Bassett knocked a hit to drive Paulin in and give Post 81 its first run of the game.
Tyler Baranowski then knocked Barnes in with a single before Carey drove in Bassett and Baranowski to give Greenfield a 4-0 lead.
“I knew at some point we were going to get runs across,” Luippold said. “We left four [runners] on in those first two innings. We were tagging the ball, we weren’t striking out. Bottom of the order did everything for us. David helped himself out a lot but besides that, the bottom of the order was on base for him to drive them in. It’s great to see going into the playoffs.”
Belchertown’s inability to make some tough plays to open the inning along the infield gave Post 81 life to be able to get its rally going.
“When you give extra outs, you give opportunity to build momentum,” Endelos said. “That one inning hurt. Jordan pitched a good game. Whether they score two, three or seven, you can’t win if you can’t hit.”
Greenfield added to its lead in the fifth. Paulin and Barnes once again got on with base hits, with Paulin reaching third on Barnes’ knock.
Bassett then drove a shot to center field for a sacrifice fly, allowing Paulin to score and extending the lead to 5-0.
Carey helped his cause in the sixth. Tyler Dubreuil smashed a single down the right field line and Carey brought him in after blasting a triple to deep right center to make it a 6-0 game.
“That’s the best feeling,” Carey said. “It’s good when someone else is pitching but when you’re pitching, driving runs in feels great.”
Jason Quinn dinged a single on the ensuing at bat to drive Carey in, giving Post 81 a 7-0 lead going into the seventh.
After losing to Belchertown earlier in the season, Luippold was proud of the way his team responded the second time around.
“A lot of guys came in with a chip on their shoulder,” Luippold said. “It’s good for their experience as young men to be down and lose a game and come back and beat the same team. It does a lot for their confidence. No matter what happens at the end of the day, it’s great to see they showed up to play today.”
Talbot went four and one-third innings for Belchertown, striking out two. Ty Gladu went the rest of the way on the hill, striking out one.
With the postseason getting underway next week, there’s a high likelihood this wasn’t the final time these two teams will get together on the diamond this summer.
“We’ll see these guys again,” Endelos said. “Whether it’s on Sunday or Tuesday, we’ll see them again.”
Greenfield is going into the playoffs with all the confidence in the world.
“We’re feeling great,” Carey said. “Our last loss was [Belchertown] and that was weeks ago. We feel like we can’t lose right now.”
PeoplesBank 7, Teddy Bear Pools 2 – Visiting Teddy Bear Pools led 2-1 after three innings before falling to PeoplesBank 7-2 Wednesday night at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke.
Dan Gaines went the first five innings for PeoplesBank (14-3) to gain the win while Tom Weldon pitched a complete game for the Poolmen (6-9) allowing five earned runs and giving up nine hits.
Devin Kellogg had two of Teddy Bear’s five hits.