Tuetken proud of young Clippers
Even though Cumberland suffered a 4-1 loss to La Salle, coach Andy Tuetken loved his team’s effort
CUMBERLAND – It doesn’t happen often, where a coach in any sport can watch his team lose a winnable game but praise it nonetheless.
Bu that’s how Cumberland High skipper Andy Tuetken described his squad’s 4-1 defeat to La Salle Academy in the hosts’ Division I opener at Tucker Field on Wednesday afternoon.
One thing’s a given: It turned out to be rather entertaining.
With the Clippers trailing, 41, in the bottom of the seventh, senior leadoff batter Nick Larson roped a single to left, and – with one down – junior Drew Szafranski drew a walk from junior reliever Justin Gervais, who promptly struck sophomore Nick Croteau to juice the bases.
Croteau’s classmate, Joey Molis, proved to be the tiltclinching run at the plate, but he flew out to center. Fellow sophomore Addison Kopack, who had homered in his previous atbat, had the same opportunity with two down.
Gervais, however, whiffed him on three pitches, and the Rams escaped with the 4-1 triumph – and a 3-0 league mark.
“For Game 1, we did a lot of good things out there,” Tuetken grinned later. “Playing a team like La Salle, especially in your league opener, is always going to be a tremendous challenge. Sure, we’ve got some things to iron out, but everybody did a good job. Our kids are really young, and most don’t have much experience, but we battled, and I’m proud of them.”
La Salle sophomore starter Joe Rego, a Rumford resident, assembled a terrific outing; in six full innings, he yielded five hits (one Kopack’s sixth-inning blast), a wild delivery and two walks while fanning a halfdozen.
On Cumberland’s side, Tuetken went with junior southpaw Zach Fogell, and he allowed five hits, four runs (three earned) and a trio of passes with three strikeouts through the initial 4 2/3 innings. He also surrendered three wild pitches.
Croteau, a righty, took over for him and allowed only two walks and whiffed one through 1 1/3.
“Both guys on the mound did a nice job,” Tuetken stated. “Fogell had good command, had some tough luck on a couple of minor mistakes behind him, and Croteau, this was his first varsity outing, but he threw a lot of quality pitches. He kept La Salle off-balance.
“The things we’ve got to work on are minor – executing rundowns a little more smoothly, swinging at pitches in hitters’ counts,” he continued. “Of course, I’d have liked to win, but I think progress will be made really quickly with these kids. Alot of them are just sophomores and juniors, and a lot of them made their varsity debuts.”
For the hosts, Larson, the No. 8 hitter, and Fogell both went 2-for-3 with a double, while Kopack finished 1-for-4 with the dinger; and Croteau 1for-2 with a walk and that hitby-pitch.
Igniting the Rams were Gervais (2-for-3, two runs, two stolen bases); senior Peter Rouse (2-for-3, double, RBI, run); classmate Sean Dandeneau of North Smithfield (1-for-3, RBI); and senior Brandon Cavaco (0-for-1, sacrifice fly, walk, RBI).
“Croteau showed me a lot, and he’s a lot like Joe Rego; they’re both tough as nails,” offered La Salle assistant Gary Bucci. “The thing about Joe is that he won’t allow pressure to beat him. He may not be able to execute something physically, but it won’t come from nerves.”
Both teams had chances to draw first blood, but failed. In the top of the first, Fogell struck out sophomore lead-off hitter Sean Helfrich on a low delivery, but it bounded past backstop Reuben Hancock, allowing Helfrich to hustle to first.
He immediately robbed second and took third on a wild pitch, yet Gervais fanned, senior Ryan Ramos fouled out to first and classmate Brandon Taylor flew to right to end the threat.
And, in the second, Rouse initiated a possible surge with an opposite-field hit to right, and he took second on junior Sam Gill’s swinging-bunt out. Cavaco popped out to Fogell, and Hancock delivered a seed to third to catch Rouse trying to steal.
In the back half, Fogell laced a one-out double to deep left and senior Nick Crowe walked, but othing came of it.
In the interim, Fogell had retired five straight after Rouse’s hit, but he ran into trouble in the fourth. Gervais reached on an infield single and stole second. With one down, Taylor drew a “freebie,” and Rouse walloped a two-bagger down the left-field stripe to plate Gervais and move Taylor to third.
Gill followed with a walk, and Cavaco’s sacrifice fly to left pushed in Taylor.
Dandeneau knocked a ground hit up the middle to score Rouse, and both moved up into scoring position on Fogell’s second wild pitch of the frame. Junior Kyle Davenport, however, lined out to the hill to close the rally that gave the Rams the 3-0 cushion.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Clippers seemed poised to break through. Larson crushed a single to right to start it, but he was thrown out at second on senior Matt Murphy’s fielder’s choice. Junior Drew Szafranski whiffed swinging for the second out, though Croteau whacked a hit between first and second.
Molis followed with a foul ball down the first-base line, but Cavaco made a spectacular divaab to keep the shutout alive.
Kopack ruined that goal on the fourth pitch of the sixth, smoking a tater over the rightcenter field fence to slice the deficit to 4-1.