MIDDLEBURY — The Addison County American Legion baseball team won two out of three recent league games to improve to 2-3 in the Northern Division in the early going.
AC defeated defending state champion Franklin County on Friday, June 22, 12-10 at home; fell to the visiting OEC Kings, 7-4, on Saturday; and defeated host Montpelier, 7-4, in 11 innings on Monday.
AC will host a non-league game vs. Bases Loaded at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Middlebury College field, and then visit Franklin County for an 11 a.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
AC, 12-10
Against Franklin on June 22 AC fell behind by 6-0 in the first as the visitors reached starter Dustin Whitcomb for two doubles, two singles and a walk and AC committed two errors.
AC got two runs back in the first on singles by Chris Wood, Wyatt Cameron and Adam Whitcomb, but Franklin added a run in the second on a single, a hit batsman and another error, ending Whitcomb’s day after two innings.
AC then rallied to take a 9-7 lead with seven runs in the bottom of the inning on three Franklin errors; singles by George Bailey, Hale Hescock, Wood and Cooper O’Brien; and a Jeff Stearns double.
Bailey came on to pitch the next 4.2 innings and earn the win, keeping Franklin off the scoreboard until the sixth.
AC made it 12-7 with three more runs in the fourth on a Cameron walk, two errors and another O’Brien single.
Franklin scored one run in the fifth off Bailey on two singles and an error, and then two in the top of the seventh on two singles and a double to make it 12-10. Cameron came on to get the final out and earn a save.
OEC, 7-4
AC struggled defensively on Saturday behind starting pitcher Adam Whitcomb. Whitcomb tossed five innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out eight, but left the mound trailing, 7-4, on seven unearned runs.
Winning pitcher Patrick Greenan was even more effective for OEC, tossing six innings of one-hit ball, walking one and fanning 10. Wood was involved in both of AC’s rallies, reaching on an error and scoring in the third, and hitting an RBI single as part of AC’s three-run fourth, during which Franklin made three errors.
AC, 7-4
On Monday AC scored three runs in the top of the 11th to snap a 4-4 tie and prevail, 7-4. Hescock drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on a Wood double. Hescock scored the winning run by beating the throw home on a Dustin Whitcomb roller to third. Wood then scored on a Stearns squeeze bunt, and Whitcomb capped the inning by trotting home on a passed ball.
Whitcomb also earned the pitching win with 4.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits and a walk, striking out two. Cameron started and allowed three runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings, two in the first as Montpelier took the early lead, and one in the seventh as the home team rallied to tie.
AC scored its first run in the fourth on a Hunter O’Connor single, an error and Nicholas Kaufmann’s squeeze bunt. AC scored two more in the sixth to take the lead on a walk to Devon Kimball, singles by Hescock and Wood, and a Whitcomb squeeze bunt.
After Montpelier tied it at 3-3 in the seventh, AC took a 4-3 lead in the eighth when O’Connor reached on an error and scored on another bunt, this one by Kimball. But Montpelier singled twice and drew a walk off Whitcomb in the eighth to stay alive.