News

By Emma Needham, VBS Team Journalist

The Valley Blue Sox (6-3-0) wrapped up their second weekend stretch of games, tallying three wins and just one loss after the four Thursday to Sunday games. 

The weekend started out with Valley travelling to Bristol, Conn., to take on the Bristol Blues in the teams’ first meeting of the season. The Blue Sox brought a great game to Muzzy Field, where five pitchers were showcased. Aaron Hubbell of Belmont University took the mound for his second start of the season, where he pitched five and a half innings before Mason Miller (Monmouth) took over for Hubbell in the bottom of the sixth. The seventh inning saw another pitching change from Valley, with Alexarmando Diaz of the University of Rhode Island replacing Miller after a groundout. Miller pitched one inning, tallying 0 runs and 0 hits. The game was paused at 4-2 with Valley holding on to the tight lead going into the eighth and ninth innings, but the Blue Sox were able to pull through, shutting down the Blues offense through great pitching from Daniel Padysak of Charleston Southern, who took over for Diaz, then Antonio Balducci, a pitcher from the University of Richmond who utilizes a side arm, and great defensive plays from the outfielders. The final score stood at 4-2, and the Blue Sox gave the Blues their fifth loss of the season. 

Moving on to Friday, the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks travelled to MacKenzie Stadium for what was perhaps the most exciting game of the weekend. The Sharks had been undefeated before their trip to face the Blue Sox, and they competed well, holding the lead of the game from their two runs scored in the first inning, to their 4-3 lead heading into the eighth. Brian Hart of Marist came up to bat for Valley, and made it to second base as Cole Andrews (Miami) took his turn at bat. Andrews bombed a walk off home run out past the fence, bringing both himself and Hart home to win the game 5-4. The dugout erupted and the crowd went nuts for the amazing hit that secured Valley their fifth win of the season. 

On Saturday, Valley was on the road again to Mystic, Conn., to face the Mystic Schooners. The game saw a plethora of home runs from both teams, with Nate Thomas of St. Josephs hitting two himself. Unfortunately, those big hits weren't enough, and the Schooners took the game by a score of 9-6. 

Sunday brought the biggest crowd at MacKenzie Stadium to date. The first half of the game went by fast, with each team securing a couple of 1-2-3 innings each. Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Garrett Shultz of Xavier University had two RBI’s, bringing Luke Franzoni (Xavier) and Mason LaPlante (Yale) home to raise the score to 2-0. The Waves responded quickly with two runs of their own off of an Albert Choi (New Jersey Institute of Technology) hit that went past the fences at MacKenzie Stadium to tie the game at 2-2. The Waves pulled ahead in the top of the seventh, scoring a run to bring the game to 3-2. Valley’s offensive push began with a Cole Andrews (Miami) at-bat, sending one high into center field and getting lucky, staying on first base when a Waves outfielder had trouble fielding the ball. LaPlante then made it to first, which advanced Andrews to second. Shultz sent a highball way out near the fence, which gave Andrews and LaPlante just enough time to run home, bringing the score to 4-3 in favor of Valley. The Waves weren’t able to come back from behind, so the game ended with a final score of 4-3.

The Blue Sox play at home on Wednesday, June 16th at 6:35 p.m. The gates open one hour before the scheduled start time.