BF roughs up another staff

Bellows Falls continued its sizzling start with a 12-6 win over Springfield in a Marble Valley League baseball game Thursday at Hadley Field.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110415/SPORTS/704159901

Published April 15, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

BF roughs up another staff

By POODY WALSH

Herald Correspondent

WESTMINSTER — Bellows Falls continued its sizzling start with a 12-6 win over Springfield in a Marble Valley League baseball game Thursday at Hadley Field.

After rolling to a 17-2 romp over Windsor on Tuesday, the Terriers have now scored 29 runs in their first two games.

“I remember standing here after games in other seasons and talking about not hitting and scoring runs,” Bellows Falls coach Bob Lockerby said with a big grin. “It’s not that way this time.”

It was opening day for Springfield and Cosmos coach Larry Partridge, who said before the season began that pitching was going to be his team’s strength, continues to have faith in his hurlers.

“We’re a work in progress,” said Partridge. “We’re one of the few towns that doesn’t have a Legion program so our kids are a bit behind. I still think our pitching will be our strength.”

Jeremy Kilburn, who was the winning pitcher in relief in the Windsor game, was once again the winning pitcher, coming in for starter Cooper Long. Kilburn worked 2 2/3 innings, giving up four hits with five strikeouts.

Springfield went through four pitchers, with starter Bill Wheeler taking the loss. James Ribeiro, Eric White and Mike Muther followed.

Springfield also showed some early season rust in the field as they made seven errors.

“We’re still not sure where everybody’s going to be playing just yet,” Partridge said.

Springfield did have some early success with a bunting game, causing Lockerby to chuckle and say “they were playing the game like we like to play.”

And the Terriers didn’t always handle the bunts efficiently, opening the door for some early Springfield offense.

“We’re not supposed to play like that,” Lockerby said. “We’re supposed to know what to do. We were a bit unsure of ourselves.”

Bellows Falls had 11 hits, including three each from Bruce Wells and Brendan Hackett. Wells drove in four runs and Hackett three.

Springfield got five hits from the top three batters, two apiece from White and Kirk Perham, but the rest of the lineup was 2-for-19.

After the Cosmos batted in the third, they had a 4-1 lead. Bellows Falls answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-4 lead, but the score remained tight through the fourth inning as both teams tallied a pair of runs. After Kilburn got the Cosmos in order in the fifth, Bellows Falls broke it open a bit with three in the fifth as Wells singled, Luke Brophy tripled, Pete Falzo singled and there were two wild pitches and a balk. Bellows Falls scored two more runs in the sixth to lock it up as Wells singled two runners home.

Springfield hosts Hartford Saturday morning while Bellows Falls is at Mill River on Monday.