Wellington Tops Forest Hill 2-1 In Another Pitchers’ Duel

Ryan Stark worked into the sixth inning before allowing his first earned run of the season.

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The last time the Wellington Wolverines and the Forest Hill Falcons met, it was as newly minted district rivals and it took eight innings for the Falcons to eke out a one-run win. When they met again at Wellington on Thursday night, it was the Wolverines who came away with a 2-1 victory.

Ryan Stark got the nod for Wellington and brought a season-long streak of 28.2 innings without allowing an earned run to the mound with him. He extended that to 33.1 before Forest Hill pegged one on him in the sixth inning, but lucky for him, his guys had jumped ahead 1-0 in the previous inning. Stark ended his night after allowing the run with two out in the sixth having amassed six strikeouts compared to two hits.

While admitting that the scoreless streak certainly added some pressure, Stark said that it did not effect his approach.

“Coming into the game I was just focusing on the task at hand and keeping the ball down, keeping them off balance and getting groundballs and outs,” Stark said. “I knew they were a good hitting team and like to jump on the fastball, so coming out off-speed was the key.”

Fortunately for the Falcons, their starter, Mike Entenza, was spot on as well. The junior righty punched out the first five batters he faced before allowing an inconsequential base hit in the sixth. Pitching all six innings for the Falcons, he ended the night with eight strikeouts and no walks, but did hit a batter and surrender a pair of runs.

“He struggled early in the season,” Forest Hill manager Russ Milliken said about his pitcher, who suffered an injury over the winter. “But he has really turned it on and just done a great job for us. He’s just come out with a lot of confidence and been able to control his pitches and he’s been able to do that for us his last three starts.”

Wellington manager Scott Riddle had a different take on Entenza’s early success.

Mike Entenza fanned the first five Wellington batters of the game.

“The first couple of innings we were trying to make him throw some pitches,” Riddle joked. “So we had our guys taking until they had three strikes a lot of times.”

Thanks to the dominant pitching, the first four innings proceeded at a brisk pace, with the most excitement coming after a three-base, outfield error put the Wolverines Angelo Brunelas 90 feet away from breaking the game open in the bottom of the fourth. Riddle called for a squeeze play but the pitch was out of the zone and the batter pulled back from the bunt, resulting in Brunelas getting caught in a run-down.

The Falcons were not so lucky in the next inning. After leading off the frame with a bloop single to right, Wolverine Dom Paolo scored from third on a mental lapse by the Falcons that resulted in an odd 6-3-4 double play.

To keep things interesting, Forest Hill pulled even in the sixth. Max Howard was hit by a pitch and swiped second base before Rafael Debrand looped an RBI single into right field.

With one out in the bottom half of the sixth, Wellington’s Christian Vasquez reached on a single up the middle of the infield. Stark pushed him into scoring position by beating out an infield single to short and then Brunelas, who leads the team with a .370 batting average, came up big for the Wolverines. Hitting from the three-hole, he took a 1-0 pitch opposite field and dropped it just inside the right-field line for a double that brought Vasquez around for the decisive run.

“I was expecting something different,” Brunelas said about the game-winning at-bat. “Probably off-speed because that’s what they were throwing me all game. But he left a fastball high and up, so why not go the other way?”

Brunelas opposite-field approach was one that Riddle and the rest of the Wolverines planned on after seeing Entenza and the Falcons just under two weeks ago.

“Our approach was to use the right side of the field,” Riddle rehashed. “We knew their guy likes to work away. He worked effectively away with his off-speed stuff and most teams don’t have the discipline to use the right side of the field off those types of pitchers. We’ve really done our best to work on it and we’re getting better. Most of the big hits that we’ve had this year for RBIs and that have won games have been to that side of the field.”

Angelo Brunelas’ double brought home the decisive run in the sixth inning.

Refusing to go down quietly, the Falcons’ Pablo Ruiz began the top of the seventh by sending a 1-0 pitch to the left-field warning track for a loud out number one. Kylan Barnett and pinch-hitter Jose Guerra followed with a base knock and a walk to breathe life into the Falcon faithful and put the tying run aboard.

Wolverine center fielder Francis Cerasuolo robbed Raymond Sanchez of an RBI in the next at-bat by ranging to his right to scoop up a fly ball just inches from the ground. Then reliever Jake Silver induced a ground out to second base to strand the runners.

While it was a tough loss for a 9-4 Falcons squad, Milliken gave credit where it was due.

“That’s a great club over there,” Milliken said. “Scott Riddle does a great job of coaching his club and those kids are well disciplined. They play the game just like we play it and it was a well-matched game.”

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