Bellows Falls snaps Springfield's five-game win streak

Bellows Falls did what no baseball team has done since May began — beat Springfield.
Related story: Historic night under the lights at Hadley
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VPA D-II Baseball Bellows Falls snaps Springfield's five-game win streak By Chris Doherty | May 15, 2015 Photo by: Doug MacPhee BF's Zac Streeter slides into home ahead of the tag from Springfield catcher Kyle White on Thursday during the Terriers' win. WESTMINSTER — Bellows Falls did what no team has done since May began — beat Springfield. Prior to Thursday night, the Cosmos had won five straight but they could not contain the Bellows Falls offense in a 12-2 defeat in the first VPA Division II baseball game under the lights at Hadley Field. Chris Armstrong received the start for the Terriers (8-3), pitching six strong innings and giving up just one unearned run on three hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts. The one unearned run came straight out of the gate in the top of the first inning. After that he got into a groove and praised his catcher Ethan Illingworth for keeping him relaxed. “Ethan was really good at calming me down and he called a really good game behind the plate,” Armstrong said. Terriers head coach Bob Lockerby also had strong words for his senior backstop. “He’s in his senior year and he’s taking control of his ball club and his pitching staff the way he’s supposed to and he’s doing it very well,” he said. It could have been 3-0 before Bellows Falls stepped to the plate for their first at-bats had it not been for a base-running miscue that resulted in a runner thrown out at the plate. Later in the inning, after an error on the infield on a ball that got behind the first baseman, Alex Groenewold gunned out Ed Shambo trying to score. The scoring began right away for Bellows Falls. After falling behind 1-0 the Terriers answered right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff triple by Austin Stack — who was just a home run away from the cycle — Zac Streeter drove him in with an RBI single and later came home on an RBI single by Illingworth. Once Armstrong got the lead, he felt a lot less pressure to go out there and pitch. “It’s energizing, you can really feel the team behind you,” he said. “It takes a lot of pressure off the pitcher when you have a good offensive performance.” Lockerby had some fun with his pitcher before giving him the credit he knew he deserved. When asked if he was impressed with the performance, Lockerby said with a laugh, “After he stopped just grooving it in the first inning.” He added, “It’s gotten to where I expect that from him, now I know that’s not fair … but they (Armstrong, Colby Howe, and Zac Streeter) have just been throwing real well.” The breakout inning for the Terriers was the fourth frame. BF sent 11 batters to plate and scored five runs. When the Terriers were on, they were running all night, swiping seven bags, all of which led to runs. Springfield head coach Rich Saypack used this game as a learning tool. Their schedule has seen teams from a couple of divisions. “We’ve won by some big scores, but we should beat those teams that way,” he said. “We knew coming into tonight we were going to get a baseball game.” The numbers weren’t great for starting pitcher Ed Shambo, but Saypack looked at it differently. “That may have been the best he’s pitched,” he said. “We’ll play these guys again. You know, one day you’re on a mountain the next day you’re in a swamp.” This was the second straight game for Bellows Falls to score double-digit runs (15 on Tuesday). “We’ve faced some pretty darn good pitching early in the season,” he said. “We’re aggressive and we are hitting the ball where it’s being pitched. I’m happy with the way we’re hitting.”