Bratt gets key victory

Sawyer Olson threw three innings of no-hit relief as Brattleboro took an early lead then had to hold on a bit before putting Springfield away, 6-3, in an interdivisional Marble Valley League baseball game at Riverside Park Tuesday.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100526/SPORTS/5260362                   # # # # Bratt gets key victory  •  Rutland Herald  •  By POODY WALSH Herald Correspondent - Published: May 26, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — Sawyer Olson threw three innings of no-hit relief as Brattleboro took an early lead then had to hold on a bit before putting Springfield away, 6-3, in an interdivisional Marble Valley League baseball game at Riverside Park Tuesday.  •  Olson did give Brattleboro coach Chris Groeger an anxious moment in the seventh when he walked the leadoff batter on four pitches. However, Olson immediately picked the runner off and then got the next two batters without any trouble to end the game.  •  The game was vital for both teams as the playoffs loom next week and neither team has a lock on a first-round home game. The Colonels appear to have the best chance as they are now 13-2 and began the day in fifth place with the top eight getting a home game. Most likely the Colonels can assure themselves of a top-eight finish by beating Woodstock on Thursday.  •  The road is little harder for Division II Springfield. At 7-8 the Cosmos started the day in fifth place.  •  "Thursday looks like an awful important day," Springfield coach Larry Partridge said in reference to the Cosmos' regular-season finale at Windsor.  •  Ryan Smith was the winning pitcher for Brattleboro. The southpaw went the first five innings and had just one bad frame as the Cosmos got to him for three runs in the fourth.  • Entering the fourth it looked like the Colonels were on their way to an easy win as they took a 5-0 lead. But that lead could have been much bigger as the Colonels stranded five runners in the first three innings.  •  "After we got that lead we stopped putting the pedal to the metal," Groeger said. "We kind of put it in cruise control. Give Springfield credit; they responded."  •  Smith had given up just one hit through three innings, but in the fourth Taylor Fontaine and Matt Mitchell led off the inning with singles and Kirk Perham doubled them both home. Smith got the next two batters on strikes, but Bennett Chevalier followed with a run-producing single, Chevalier ending up on second on the throw to the infield. Brandon Boyle probably wished Riverside Park had a fence after he crushed a monster drive to left only see the ball got hauled down after a long run by Brattleboro left fielder Derek Sargent.  •  Brattleboro wasted a leadoff double by Matt Hudon (three hits in four trips) in the first inning. The Colonels did score a couple of runs in the second, one when Springfield pitcher Derek Osborne's pickoff throw to second hit Brattleboro's Mark Lavalley in the helmet and rolled out to right-center, allowing Lavalley to come all the way around. The second run came on Hudon's RBI single.  •  The Colonels made it 4-0 in the second as Devon Rhodes had a two-run single. The Colonels went on to load the bases with one out, but Osborne turned a comebacker into a 1-2-3 double play. Smith drove in a run in the fourth for Brattleboro and Tommy Heydinger followed Rob Meyer's double with a single to drive in the sixth Brattleboro run in the fifth.  •  While Groeger was happy to leave Springfield with the win, he would have like to seen better run production.  •  "We've got to get better," he said. "We've got some kids that can really hit, but we don't always show it."  •  Osborne pitched the first five innings for the Cosmos, giving up all five runs on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Boyle pitched two no-hit innings to finish up.  •  The line on Smith was five innings five hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.  •