NECC Knights visited Central Maine Community College for a noon start time in Auburn, Maine, for game one of the doubleheader.
The Knights defeated the Mustangs 10-0. Central Maine’s record was 21-6 heading into the game while NECC Knights were 10-2 and undefeated on the road games 5-0. Double headers are seven innings as opposed to the normal 9 innings.
Chris Bear of Boston went to first with one out it was a dropped third strike. Nicholas White of Townsend reached first on an error. Bear and White had a double steal with one out that gave an opportunity for Jared Coppola of Lynn to rip the ball in between shortstop and third for a 2 RBI single.
Coppola stole second but the Knights left him stranded. Jayden Volker of Coventry, R.I., was on the mound for the Knights. He gave up a walk to Jimmy Reed of Skowhegan, Maine, to lead off the game. Reed stole second. Jake Arel of Auburn, Maine, walked. Stefan Lesco of Sommers, Conn., hit a ground ball to shortstop Coppola who threw a strike to Ryan Brown of Haverhill to get out Reed at the plate. Caden Truman of Norway, Maine, walked to load the bases.
Volker caught the ball and threw it home for the second out and Volker struck out Caleb Valliere of Sabattus, Maine, to escape out of trouble and Maine did not score.
Volker had a shaky start in the first inning but he settled in as the game progressed.
“Not to make excuses but there is no bullpen here so he wasn’t able to throw anything of the mound until the start of the game you know it’s tough pitchers are rhythm you know… but what I like is that he worked himself out of every jam,” Coach Jeff Mejia said after the game.
Lucas Berube of Dighton got hit by a pitch followed by a walk of Rodriguez. The Knights had first and second when Berube stole third. Berube scored on a tag fly from Kameron Levesque of Hooksett, N.H. It got away from the catcher which allowed Rodriguez to try to advance to second and he got caught on second trying to advance.
Chris Bear of Boston hit a double on right field. It was a hit and run that scored Richie Williams of Georgetown for the 4th run of the game. White singled to left to score Bear from second. White stole second and went to third on a error on the catcher. Volker struck out two of the three batters in the second inning.
In the top of the third inning Luis Colon of Lawrence hit a double with one out but the Knights couldn’t get that run across from second as they did not score. Volker retired the side in the second and in the third.
On a 1-2 count Levesque hit a base hit to left fielder White walked. Bear bunted for a sacrifice play that moved up the runners to second and third. Williams hit a fly ball to center field and threw the ball home to tag out Levesque at the plate trying to score for a double play.
On the fifth inning Settle singled to center field. On a 2-1 count on Colon while Settle was running they called a balk on pitcher Wyatt Lufkin of Peru, Maine, which allowed Settle to go to second. But the Knights did not score as Rodriguez hit a fly ball to right field. Ronaldo Rodriguez of Boston got hit by a pitch on the elbow area, which Cole Brown of Carthage, Maine, went and pinch run for him.
In the sixth inning the Knights had the bases loaded with one out when White cleared the bases with a triple and scored on an error.
“… It was simple. Hit balls hard and let the barrel do the work for me,” White said.
It was 9-0 Knights in the lead when Coppola singled. He stole third and home to make it 10-0. The Knights scored 5 in the sixth after going quietly in the third and Knights won 10-0 in the first game of the double header — a no hitter by Volker.
