HYANNIS – In what looked like a 180-degree turnaround for the host Barnstable High baseball team Wednesday morning, the Red Raider bats came alive and junior righty Eric Holzman was unhittable for six frames in a 12-3 victory against Sandwich High.
Barnstable’s Eric Holzman upped his record to 2-0 on the season with a complete-game three-hitter against Sandwich Wednesday afternoon.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
Barnstable came out of the starting gate hammering the baseball at the plate and finished the day with 15 hits in all. Holzman went the distance and carried a no-hitter through the end of the sixth but allowed three runs (two earned) in the top of the seventh on three hits, all with two outs. Holzman would have had a 1-2-3 final frame if not for a leadoff infield error.
Holzman walked only two batters in his seven innings of work and needed just 92 pitches to complete the job.
The hard-throwing ace of the Red Raider staff is now 2-0 on the season. Barnstable is now 2-4, while Sandwich fell to 2-4. Barnstable next faces Duxbury on the road on Friday while Sandwich is slated to welcome Central Catholic on Saturday (April 25) at noon.
Barnstable came out of the gate flying in the first when centerfielder Alex Mercado (1-2, 2 runs) got the wheels turning with a leadoff double, then advanced to third on a pristine bunt single by JR DiSarcina (2-4). DiSarcina stole second base and then Griffin Burke (2-3, two RBI) followed with a walk to load the bases for Jack Kennedy (1-1, walk, sac RBI). Kennedy plated the first run with a deep sac fly to centerfield to make it 1-0.
Andrew Atsalis breathed fire into the Barnstable lineup when he laced a screamer through the right side of the infield to drive in DiSarcina and Burke for a 3-0 lead, but Atsalis got nabbed trying to leg it out to second on the outfield throw to the plate.
Regardless, Atsalis’ two-run rip gave the hosts the momentum they’d been searching for through the beginning of the season and it gave Holzman the breathing room he needed on the mound to lock into a smooth rhythm against the aggressive Sandwich bats.
“I had a feeling this was going to happen today,” Barnstable head coach Ryan Kinski said. “The energy level was different. Coach (Dave) Iava was stressing that after the Falmouth game. These guys brought it after 8:15 am on and Holzman goes out and throws another gem.”
Barnstable High’s Griffin Burke went 2-3 with two RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored in a solid day at the plate for the Red Raiders.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
Barnstable gave Holzman all the runs he would need to seal the deal in the bottom of the third inning when Mercado led off with a walk, stole second and reached third on another textbook DiSarcina bunt single down the third base line. Burke ripped the first fastball he saw from Sandwich starter Will Crowther to left and Barnstable had a 4-0 lead with two men on and no outs. Lukas Atsalis then laid down Barnstable’s third bunt single – an unplayable beauty – and his cousin Andrew Atsalis hit a deep sacrifice fly to make it 5-0. Designated hitter C.J. McCabe (2-4, RBI) roped a basehit to drive in another run to make it 6-0, followed by a Joel Carlson (1-1, RBI) basehit and that was it for Crowther who ended up taking the loss after 2 1/3 innings of work.
Things calmed with the relief pitching of Blue Knight righty Dan Perry, who came in and got his team out of a jam, but the damage had been done. Barnstable had a 10-0 lead when the dust finally settled on the third frame.
In the bottom of the fifth, Barnstable tacked on two more runs on a pinch-hit from Tom Sheran (his first career varsity hit) and a laser from 8th grade catcher Ryan Proto (2-3, RBI), as well as a pinch hit from Chris Weber and an RBI-single from Burke.
Sandwich plated three runs on Holzman in the seventh on hits from Chris Jones, Brady Doherty (RBI-double) and Vinny Petracca, but it was too little too late.
“Huge difference (today),” Kinski said.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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