Liam Berardi belted an RBI double in the first inning for the Ocean State Dragons.
By Rich Bevensee
GBG Northeast 14U Black coach Scott Ross was faced with an important decision heading into the top of the fifth inning of a one-run game.
His pitcher, righty Mark Lehouillier, already logged 85 pitches but had been cruising since the second inning. Ross also considered that Lehouillier pitched four scoreless innings in relief in his previous outing.
So despite the pitch count, Ross gave Lehouillier the green light to get back on the mound and his pitcher paid him back with a three-up, three-down inning.
“I knew he had it in him to finish the game,” Ross said.
That effort paved the way for GBG of Foxborough, Mass,, to clinch a 6-4, five-inning victory over the Ocean State Dragons of Exeter, R.I., in the Northeast Championship on Thursday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
Lehouillier allowed three runs on three hits in the top of the first inning as the Dragons took a 3-0 lead. But he permitted only one run on three hits in his final four frames of work.
“I think we got a little picky with our pitches,” Dragons coach Jeremy Reposa said. “In the first inning when that pitcher didn’t have it and he was slipping, I think it got into our heads and we were just waiting for our pitch and we didn’t make the adjustment. Kudos to that pitcher, he made the adjustments and made sure he filled it up.”
Lehouillier lobbied Ross for one more inning after setting down the Dragons in the top of the fourth.
“I was trying to convince him,” Lehouillier said. “After the first inning, I gave up one run after that. I was at 85 but I wanted to stretch it. I just had to drain all the bad thoughts from the first inning and lock in from there. After the fourth I felt amazing. Even though I was at 85 I felt amazing.”
It turns out that Ross was leaning toward allowing Lehouillier to continue even before his pitcher lobbied for another inning.
He recalled Lehouillier’s last outing in which he pitched four scoreless innings of relief and struck out eight to help secure a 2-1 win.
“His 85 pitches was a lot but not a real lot,” Ross said. “And their 10-11 hitters were coming up and I didn’t think those guys would catch up to his fastball. I thought about it some more and it just made sense to let him keep going.”
Reagan Doehler slides home safely in the third inning for GBG Northeast 14U Black.
Lehouillier, a 6-foot, 160-pound rising freshman at Taunton High in Taunton, Mass., said his biggest in-game adjustment after the first inning was throwing different pitches. He employed a fastball and curveball in the first inning, but between him and his catcher, Parker Swiers, who called pitches, they made the adjustment to throw two-seamers and changeups the rest of the way.
His final pitching line was five complete with four runs on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
“He wasn’t mixing his pitches well enough but I wasn’t going to take him out after one inning. That wasn’t going to happen,” Ross said. “It’s a long game and I’ve seen him pitch really well before. I talked to him a little bit, told him not to rush, stay calm and pitch your game, and he pitched awesome his last four innings.”
“When I changed it up to a two-seam and changeup it started getting them and my curveball felt better after that, too,” Lehouillier said.
GBG, short for Garciaparra Baseball Group, improved to 3-1 for the week. The New Englanders opened the week with a 5-2 loss to the Piedmont Bulls, but rebounded with a 10-6 win over Locked In Expos Blue and a 9-4 decision over MVP East End.
The Dragons split their week-long series 2-2. Earlier they lost, 5-2, to MVP East End and defeated the Piedmont Bulls, 5-4, and Locked In Expos Blue, 9-4.
GBG came to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning with a one-run lead and seven minutes left on the game clock. GBG squeezed precious ticks off the clock when Derek Dolores and Reagan Doehler earned walks and Swiers was intentionally walked. Henry Joubert drove in the final run of the game with a sacrifice fly.
GBG trailed by one after giving up a run in the top of the third, then quickly reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Joubert knocked in Doehler with the tying run on a sac fly, and Evan Pickett scored on an infield throwing error following a Lehouillier ground ball.
The Dragons took a 4-3 lead in the third when Chase Moniz doubled and later scored on a James Droney two-out, RBI single.
GBG came back from a 3-0 hole with two runs in the first inning and one more in the second. In the first, Lehouillier drove in a run with a fielder’s choice and Max Barrett forced in a run with a walk. In the second, No. 12 hitter Kylan McPeck tied the game at 3-3 when he lofted a pop fly single behind first base to knock in Nate Murphy.
“This summer we’re playing in the toughest division in the Perfect Game league,” Ross said. “We’ve played 24 games and they’ve done awesome. They’re really resilient. We’ve been down early and we’ve come back many times to win ballgames.”
The Dragons opened the game by blitzing Lehouillier for three runs on three hits and two walks in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Grant Holborok scored on a wild pitch, Liam Berardi doubled home Moniz who singled, and Droney hit a sac fly to bring home Berardi.