Hunt hurls 3-hitter to stop Novans

Woonsocket native leads Wheeler to D-II victory

WOONSOCKET — The Woonsocket baseball team came into Thursday’s Division II home game against reigning Division III champion Wheeler having scored 39 runs in its first five league contests.

On the surface, it seems like the Novans have been humming along after dropping down from Division I, but the reality is 31 of those runs were scored in their first two games, with just eight coming in the last three.

The Villa Novans’ offensive struggles continued against Woonsocket native and Warrior senior Sam Hunt. Hunt, the son of Woonsocket mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, allowed just three hits in a 5.2-inning effort, while he also scored a pair of runs and drove in a run in a 12-0 six-inning victory at Renaud Field.

“The other day against Tolman at (McCoy Stadium) we only had three hits and then we start this week against Scituate and we only have five hits,” Woonsocket coach Paul Murphy said. “We only had three hits in this game, so we only have eight hits in two games this week. That’s not going to win you many games.

“The weather goes back and forth and you’re inside for two or three days in a row and then all of the sudden you have to come out and play a game. I know both teams are in the same situation, but sometimes it affects certain teams more than others.”

Woonsocket (3-3 Division II) has now lost its last three contests since starting the season with three straight wins. Senior Justin Mojica took the loss after going 4.1 innings and giving up six runs. Mojica only gave up one run through the first four innings, but the wheels came off for the Novans in the fifth and sixth innings.

Offensively, only Mojica, Hezekiah Adeyeye and senior catcher T.J. Cahill produced hits against Hunt, who struck out eight batters, walked four and hit two before he was replaced in the sixth inning by Dakota Wharton.

“We didn’t hit the ball hard besides those couple of times when we had guys on base and they made plays,” Murphy said. “We had three hits and all three of them were ground balls and only two of them made the outfield. First two games of the season we hit the ball hard and made a bunch of errors. Now, we aren’t hitting the ball.”

Wheeler (4-2 Division II) received three RBIs and a run scored from clean-up hitter Ben Aleixo, while Jack Mancini had three hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Hunt and sophomore Dan Baruch each scored twice, Joe Boushell scored three times.

The road side grabbed the only run they would need in the second inning and it all started when Boushell walked and advanced to second on the play because of a wild pitch. Mancini followed with a single to plate the sophomore.

“They didn’t even have to get a hit to get their first runner in scoring position because of the walk and the wild pitch,” Murphy said. “When you do things like that, you kind of make it easy on them. To their credit, when they got guys on base, they hit the ball hard.”

Hunt ran into trouble in the fourth when Mojica singled up the middle and Brian Diaz walked to move the game-tying run into scoring position. After a failed sacrifice bunt, Hunt set down Caden Unwin and Noah Desplaines to get out of the jam.

The Wheeler bats finally opened up the game in the fifth as Aleixo smacked a single to left field to plate Hunt and Baruch and then Mancini followed with a single to open up a 6-0 lead before Mojica was replaced by Harrison Blais.

Blais stranded a pair of runners in the fifth, but a pair of errors in the sixth helped the Warriors score six more runs to end the game an inning early. Hunt had an RBI and scored a run in the inning.

The Villa Novans will likely send Adeyeye to the mound Monday afternoon when they make the long trip down to Sprague Park to face Narragansett.