In the immediate aftermath of watching his team top Metea Valley ace Jack Szott on Tuesday, Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner called it a good start towards conference play.
Three days later, Neuqua Valley continued that good start courtesy of a 6-4 Upstate Eight Valley victory over Metea Valley on Friday, earning a series victory.
Six Wildcats recorded hits off Mustangs’ starter Jacob Petersen as they pieced together six runs over the course of the game’s first two innings.
Thanks to getting 5 2/3 innings from Danny Wagner and some timely defense, the two-inning offensive outburst to start matters stood up.
“I just tried to throw strikes and compete. It was a windy day. It was hard,” Wagner said. “I tried to get my curveball down. That was effective for me. But I don’t know. My changeup wasn’t working, so back to the fastball. So I really located (Friday).”
Wagner scattered seven hits and gave way to Tyler Bromer after Metea Valley had pulled within two runs in the sixth.
Led by Kevin Hutt’s two RBIs, five players knocked in runs for Neuqua Valley (5-3, 2-1), which batted around during a four-run first that saw Petersen walk the bases loaded to start the game.
Alex DiFranco, Matt Gould and Tyler Wypiszenski all followed with RBI singles as it answered a Mustangs’ run in the top of the first.
An inning later, six Wildcats would come to bat as a RBI double from Tyler Tesmond and a RBI single from Hutt would boost the lead to 6-1.
“A lot of kids played great (Friday). Unfortunately, I didn’t have my stuff in the first couple innings and really dug us in a hole,” Petersen said. “I settled down a little bit after that, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to recover. A lot of kids hit the ball hard (Friday).”
Petersen took the loss for the Mustangs (5-2, 1-2) after allowing five earned runs on seven hits while striking out three in his six innings.
While the Wildcats’ offense was in the midst of banging out the six runs on seven hits, their defense was aiding Wagner.
Wagner benefited from his teammates turning three double plays to help him escape more damage.
Down 6-2 entering the sixth, the Mustangs loaded the bases to start the inning before Wagner rolled up a double play as Hutt fielded the ball at short, stepped on second before firing over to Will Drake at first.
“In a close game, defense is always key and we needed those double plays to help us get out of the inning because it got a quick two outs and then our pitchers are able to settle down and get that last out and really bring us back into the dugout,” Hutt said.
That third and final double play loomed large when Michael Sfikas singled to bring home the second run of the inning and get the Mustangs within two runs.
But Bromer induced a grounder to short to finish off Metea Valley in the sixth and tossed a perfect seventh to preserve the victory for Wagner.
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