Sports
Late drama for county baseball
ADDISON COUNTY — Late-inning fireworks and strong pitching — by local teams and opponents alike — marked the action for the Vergennes, Mount Abraham and Otter Valley union high school baseball teams in the past week.
Games included a victory for the Commodores at Mount Abe sparked by a seventh-inning home run.
VUHS-MT. ABE
On Saturday at Mount Abe, the Eagle nine held a 5-4 lead over the Commodores and were one out away from victory. But Commodore senior Tucker Stearns drilled a two-strike pitch over the fence for a three-run homer that made it 7-5, VUHS.
The Eagles plated a run in the bottom of the seventh, but winning pitcher Jarret Muzzy shut the door after that, and the Commodores came away a 7-6 win.
Muzzy walked two, struck out eight, allowed six hits and four earned runs, and worked around six Commodore errors for the complete-game win. Stearns paced the seven-hit VUHS attack with two triples to go with his homer, scoring three runs and driving in three. Barret Barrows and Jake Russell also singled and drove in runs for VUHS (4-6).
Eagle Adam Mansfield took the complete-game loss, walking one and fanning four and allowing five earned runs. Neil Guy poked two hits, drove in two runs and scored twice to pace the Eagles, and Gus Hill also singled and drove in a run.
COMMODORES
On May 14, VUHS dealt visiting Enosburg its second loss of the spring, 7-6, in eight innings. Barrows’ 8th-inning double plated Muzzy with the winning run, enabling the Commodores to overcome two homers from Hornet Justis Orton.
Elijah Duprey led VUHS with four hits, Nate Muzzy had three, and Stearns doubled and singled to pace the Commodores. Jarret Muzzy picked up the win in relief.
The Commodores also hosted Spaulding on Tuesday; see story on Page 1B.
EAGLES
On Thursday, the Eagles also rallied late. They surrendered an early 9-2 lead, but scored four runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to defeat visiting Missisquoi, 15-12, and make a winner of reliever Joe Graziadei.
Guy and Ryan Whitcomb led the Eagles with three hits apiece, and Mansfield and Carter Monks each had two.
On Tuesday, host Enosburg’s Brandon Parent tossed a complete-game four-hitter as the Hornets shut down the Eagles, 6-1. Dylan Pattee and Justis Orton homered for Enosburg.
Whitcomb poked an RBI single and Zeke Savage doubled for the 7-6 Eagles.
OTTERS
On May 12, visiting Mount Anthony took advantage of seven Otter Valley errors in the Patriots’ 15-4 victory. OV managed four singles off MAU pitching.
OV rebounded on May 14: Fraser Pierpont pitched a three-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over visiting Fair Haven. Pierpont fanned nine and walked one. The Slaters slipped to 4-6, with Evan Reed taking the loss.
OV took a 4-0 lead in the third on singles by Andy McEnerny, Caleb Whitney, Lane Eddy and Jordan Beayon and three Slater errors. McEnerny singled home Brady Diaz to make it 5-0 in the sixth.
On Tuesday the Otters were on the wrong end of a strong pitching performance: Windsor’s Johnny Clark held OV to one hit through six innings in his team’s 10-0 victory.
Lucias Sheldrick had the lone hit for OV, which dropped to 5-5.
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