Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 5/14/2021 3:06:21 PM
Mascenic’s ace senior pitcher Shea Zina gave Conant all they could handle at the plate Thursday, but even with Zina’s complete-game three-hitter, the Orioles had a chance to turn things their way during an error-filled fifth inning. However, just as Mascenic’s mistakes let Conant back into the game, the Orioles let their own breakdowns take them right back out of it.
“Sometimes the baseball gods are with you,” said Conant head coach Aric LeClair after Thursday’s 6-0 Mascenic victory, “and other times, they’re against you. They’ve been against us for the last three, four weeks.”
Zina set the tone for the Vikings, picking up where he left off in Tuesday’s relief appearance in Jaffrey by setting down the side in order and then leading off the bottom of the first with a double that hit high off the centerfield wall in the deepest part of Mascenic’s home field.
Viking head coach Jared Stauffeneker said he recently moved Zina from the third spot in the order up to leadoff to get him going at the plate, a tactic the Vikings employed successfully in 2019.
“We did it two years ago and he started hitting the ball,” Stauffeneker said, “so we were trying to try to get him going again, because he’s been struggling a little bit early on, but he’ll figure it out. And he did today – he hit the ball hard a few times.”
Zina took third on a Hayes Pearson grounder and then scored on a wild pitch by Conant starter Griffin Labonte (3 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 ER). He’d single again in the third and score on a Blaine Krook fielder’s choice to put Mascenic up 2-0, and with Zina cruising on the mound, it looked like that score might carry through to the end.
In the fourth, however, the Orioles had their chance to break things open. Kace Aho and Zach Lovett reached on back-to-back Mascenic errors and then advanced on a wild pitch to set leadoff man Malique Motuzas up with the tying run on second and no outs. Motuzas, hesitant to drop down a bunt against Zina’s fireball, struck out swinging and headed back for the dugout, unaware that catcher Jack Cocozella had dropped the third strike. He turned back for first, too late, as Cocozella threw down to first and got Motuzas; Aho tried to score during that confusion, but was gunned down at the plate by first baseman Blaine Krook for an unorthodox strike-him-out-throw-him-out-throw-him-out double play. Zina forced a popout to end the inning and the threat.
The Orioles have certainly cut down on their mental and physical mistakes since the beginning of the year, but they still need to clean up a bit before the postseason. Fortunately, LeClair said, they have the right attitude to make that happen.
“No matter how many mistakes we make, we don't get down on ourselves and we come out still swinging and still trying to make the plays,” LeClair said. “So that's a bonus – a lot of guys would just give up. These boys have a lot of heart and will to pick up from their mistakes and hopefully just truck on and make the next play.”
Mascenic added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a Ryan O’Shea two-run single off reliever Kace Aho (3 IP, 2 ER, 2K, 2 BB, 5 H) and then added two more in the sixth on back-to-back-doubles from Zina (3-4, RBI, 2 2B, 2 R) and Jack Cocozella (1-2, 2B, RBI, 2 BB).
“That's kind of been the story of our season so far,” Stauffeneker said. “We struggle for three, four innings and then we see a guy for a second or third time and we started hitting the ball hard.”
Labonte, Hayden Ketola and Colson Seppala had Conant’s three hits off Zina, who finished the complete game shutout win, allowing two walks while fanning seven. On the season, the Franklin Pierce-bound hurler is averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning, with a 1.03 ERA and a 0.74 WHIP. Between Tuesday’s relief appearance and Thursday’s start, the workhorse threw 10 shutout innings and allowed just three hits against Mascenic’s biggest rival.
“Honestly, that’s probably going to be the best guy we face all year,” LeClair said.
Mascenic (6-2) is at Monadnock Tuesday. Conant (2-6) plays a pair of upper division JV teams next week, with Souhegan Tuesday and Keene Friday, and then wraps up the following week with a pair against Wilton-Lyndeborough.
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