An error proved costly in the Hampden Quirk Motor City Riverdogs Post 24 Senior American Legion team’s 6-5 loss to Hudson, Mass., in Wednesday’s opening round game in the Northeast Regional Tournament and multiple errors sent them home on Thursday.
For the second straight game, the Riverdogs built a three-run lead but their defense let them down as South Burlington, Vermont erased a 4-1 deficit to beat them 5-4 in Manchester, N.H.
All five of the South Burlington runs were unearned as were four of Hudson’s runs on Wednesday.
The Riverdogs committed four errors on Thursday.
South Burlington, a 4-0 loser to Portsmouth, N.H. on Wednesday, will now face the loser of Thursday’s game between Cumberland, R.I. and Shrewsbury, Mass. on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Hampden was leading 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning when a one-out shortstop error opened the door for the rally.
Jack Foster followed with a run-scoring triple down the right field line to make it 4-2. Following a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Liam O’Connor singled home Foster.
Kyle Tanis’ ground rule double put runners on second and third and Hampden starter Ashton O’Roak was replaced by Kaysen Wildman.
A wild pitch and ensuing catcher’s throwing error allowed both O’Connor and Tanis to score.
Riverdogs head coach Frank Peckham said there were also two mental errors on the play.
“Kaysen was late getting to the plate to cover and then nobody backed up the throw from the catcher (Rogan Lord) which allowed the runner from second to score,” said Peckham.
“It was a tough loss. We played pretty good baseball until we made a couple of errors at the end and things got away from us,” said Peckham.
The Riverdogs had a glorious opportunity to regain the lead in the top of the seventh when they put runners on second and third with nobody out after singles by Gavin Monyok and Andrew Cote.
Following a pop-up, Monyok was thrown out at the plate to end the game as he tried to score on Collin Peckham’s fly ball to center fielder Foster.
The Riverdogs took a 1-0 lead in the first on Cote’s base hit and TJ Llerena’s two-out RBI double.
Vermont tied it in the third on a walk and an error.
Hampden regained a one-run lead in the fourth when Llerena singled, stole second and eventually scored on Joshua Lorenzo’s groundout.
The Riverdogs added two more in the fifth on an error, Cote’s base hit, a wild pitch, Lord’s RBI single and Peckham’s run-producing groundout.
South Burlington managed just three hits off starter Ashton O’Roak and reliever Wildman.
O’Roak, who will be a junior at Hampden Academy in the fall, struck out four and walked three over 4 ⅔ innings. He gave up all three hits and the five unearned runs. Wildman didn’t allow a hit and struck out one.
“Ashton did a great job just like he did in the state tournament,” said Peckham, referring to the 10-2 win over Franklin County in game three of the State American Legion tournament in which O’Roak and Jacob Kelley teamed up to beat the Flyers.
Peckham said there was some sickness going around his team which prompted him to start O’Roak on the mound.
Abbott Terkel picked up the win for South Burlington with six innings of seven-hit, four-run ball. Two were unearned. He struck out four and walked one. Bennett Campbell allowed two hits in the seventh but pitched out of the jam to earn the save.
Cote had three singles for the Riverdogs and Llerena had a double and a single to go with his triple and double in Wednesday’s game.
Peckham said he was proud of the team and the season they had and noted that they were competitive at the regional.
“We could have won both games,” he said.
