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Poland freezes Academy, leads Rice to 5-1 win
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- Created on Saturday, 07 May 2011 10:58
- Written by Administrator
He surrendered an early run, but once lefty Zac Poland settled in there was little the Hilltoppers could do to prevent a seventh straight loss, 5-1 to Rice Wednesday.
“He’s a terrific pitcher. Today we were making contact, it’s just a matter of getting some hits and stringing some runs together,” St. Johnsbury head coach Peter Wright said.
The Academy managed four hits, but Poland made sure none came after the fourth inning. Mat Lyon, Jonathan Nurko and Lincoln Lemieux all singled in the first. But after giving up the three early hits and a sac-fly RBI to Sam Hutchins in the same inning, the southpaw hunkered down and finished with five strikeouts, two walks and just the one run in his seven innings of work.
“He really kept us off balance,” Wright said.
Elijah Doerfler took the hill for St. Johnsbury but was saddled with the loss in his four innings of work. The junior allowed seven hits and all five runs to go along with two strikeouts and two walks. Ricardo Cielak, Ross LaBounty and Alex Verpaelst worked as a three-headed relief attack for the ‘Toppers in the final three innings. The trio allowed just a single hit on two strikeouts and two walks.
Graham Cory and Nickey Elderton each smacked two hits for the Green Knights. Elderton poked a single in the first and a double in the seventh, while Cory struck for an RBI single in the three-run fourth inning. Evan Healey drove home two with an RBI double in the inning as well. Rice totaled eight hits on the day, improving to 12-3 on the season.
Dropping to 5-10, the Academy will end its regular season on Friday at home versus South Burlington.
“I’d like to win Friday. Going into the playoffs we could really use something to lift our momentum,” Wright said. “I liked our fight today but I’d like to see the bats come alive.”
Rice…………..2 0 0 3 0 0 0 – 5 R 8 H 1 E
St. Johnsbury…1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 R 4 H 0 E
WP – Z. Polland
LP – E. Doerfler
2B – G. Cory (RICE), N. Elderton (RICE), E. Healey (RICE)
