HOLYOKE, MA—The Valley Blue Sox had difficulty controlling the baseball, as eleven walks, two hit batsmen, and six errors doomed their night in a loss to South Division-leading Mystic, 9-2, in front of 1640 fans at Mackenzie Stadium on June 18.
The loss drops the Blue Sox to 5-4, tied for first in the North Division with Vermont.
It was a shaky start for pitcher Derik Beauprez, who walked the first three batters he faced. He managed to minimize the damage, however, getting a double-play ball that allowed one run, and then a flyout to left.
The Blue Sox offense responded in the bottom of the first. Left fielder Storm Wilson led off with a walk of his own, and then proceeded to steal second and then third. First baseman Trey Sikes then roped a double to score Wilson.
In the third, the Blue Sox gave away another run with a throwing error, walk, and wild pitch that allowed for an RBI groundout, but again the offense responded as right fielder Bobby Stahel and third baseman Frank Crinella were both hit by pitches. A fielder’s choice gave the Blue Sox first and third with one out, and catcher Josh Graham nailed another RBI double to tie the game, scoring Stahel.
However, in the fourth, the Schooners scored what proved to be the winning run, with a walk, wild pitch, stole base, and single to give Mystic a 3-2 lead.
From there, the mistakes compounded for Valley. In the fifth, a walk, infield single, and error brought in another run; in the sixth, two walks, a single, and a double scored two more for the Schooners, in the eighth a single was followed by a three-base error for a run, and in the ninth, an error, an infield single, another single, and a sacrifice fly plated a fourth unearned run for the 9-2 final.
The Blue Sox will look to shake the game off when they battle the Keene Swamp Bats at Alumni Field on Thursday; they return home Saturday, June 21 for a doubleheader with the Vermont Mountaineers. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. for the 5:35 p.m. game one start; one ticket is good for both games and fans will be able to see the Red Sox World Series Trophies, which will be on hand during the contest.