LISBON — Lisbon Central Coach Dave Gravlin had to make two pitching decisions on Monday as Lisbon hosted Harrisville in a match of NAC West Baseball unbeatens.
Both decisions proved prudent as the Golden Knights rallied from a 6-0 deficit after two innings to outscore the Pirates 10-7.
In the third inning he replaced starter Cooper Rutherford with Lucas Gravlin who locked down the Pirates as the Knights used three-run bursts in the third and fourth innings to pull into a 6-6 tie against hard-throwing Harrisville hurler Tanner Sullivan.
“Cooper was throwing the ball well but they have a tough lineup and they hit him. So we made the pitching change and it worked out,” said Coach Gravlin.
Gravlin, who is batting .694 on the season, lined a two-run double in the third inning where the Knights capitalized on two two-out errors and came back to drill a two-run double in the fourth inning.
In the top of the sixth Gravlin encountered control problems and walked in a go-ahead run.
Afterwards Coach Gravlin related that was preparing for another possible pitching change but held off.
Another wise choice.
Lucas Gravlin got the third out, the Knights scored four runs off Harrisville reliever Aiden Chartrand in the bottom of the sixth and Gravlin struck out the side in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the sixth Connor Flack and Matt Bleau dropped down key bunts, Gravlin drove in a run with a groundball to short and Isaac LaRock singled up the middle.
“We had Isaac LaRock ready to come in but I left Lucas in and he made his dad look pretty good. He has pitched a lot but this was his longest stint and he pitched through trouble,” said Coach Gravlin.
“This was a really good win against a very good team and a pitcher who throws very hard. A lot of guys came through with key hits, those bunts in the bottom of the sixth inning was huge.”
Gravlin struck out 12 in his four inning stint and Tanner Sullivan fanned nine pitching the first six innings for Harrisville.
Offensively Gravlin singled and doubled twice to drive in four runs and Isaac LaRock lined two singles and a double to plate three runs. Matt Bleau singled in a run and scored three times and Matt Kinney and Connor Flack singled.
Tanner Sullivan (2 singles), Brendan Loos (2 singles) and Charlie Jenack (single) all drove in two runs for Harrisville. Nolan Sullivan and Aiden Chartrand also singled and Joe Sheppard added an RBI.
Lisbon will look to defend sole possession of the lead facing Heuvelton today and the Bulldogs are coming off a 19-2 win over Clifton-Fine on Monday.
The other NAC West game of the day saw Morristown down Edwards-Knox 16-12.
Heuvelton 19 - C-F 2: The Bulldogs gained momentum for Tuesday’s game against Lisbon as Dylan Demers pitched the victory and Jake Venette singled twice and drove in three runs. Brandon Pray, Levi Biller and Jakob Ladouceur also stroked two singles.
Lucas Thornhill, Tristan Young, Ryley Liscum and Reid Doyle all added singles.
MCS 16 - E-K 12: Dominic Perretta, Peyton Donnelly and Seth Witherhead all scored twice in a decisive 10-run second inning which anchored the Green Rockets’ win. Elijah Rainville pitched the win aided by a homerun from Peyton Donnelly and two singles from Sawyer Belisle and Ethan Simmons.
Aiden Geer rapped a homerun and a double for E-K, Eben Baker stroked a double and two singles and Aiden Keddy doubled twice.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.