Shepaug baseball tops Northwestern in rout

WINSTED - What might have been a pitchers’ duel between Shepaug starter Alan Stinson and Northwestern’s Mike Oley turned into a Spartan rout by the third inning, ending in an 11-4 win for undefeated Shepaug (16-0; 14-0 Berkshire League).

Stinson blanked the Highlanders on just two hits through the first four innings. Oley gave up four hits in four innings, along with seven strikeouts in the first three.

Nevertheless, the first inning showed what kind of game this would be for the Highlanders (8-5; 8-3 Berkshire League), who came in with designs on handing Shepaug its first loss after a near-miss onerun game early in the season.

Oley walked leadoff batter Stinson, who will play for Albertus Magnus next season, then gave up an RBI triple to freshman Owen Hibbard.

Oley followed Hibbard’s blast with back-to-back strikeouts and an infield grounder, which might have left Northwestern down just 1-0. Instead, Hibbard scored on a strikethree wild pitch to Everett Hibbard and Joe Burnelli was on with a throwing error.

Then Jack Schneider began his 3-for-4 day with a two-run triple to give Shepaug a 4-0 lead.

“That first inning was

our downfall,” Northwestern co-coach Kevin Nelligan said. “We’ve had trouble with it all year, but our defense has been our strength. We’ve been averaging just one error a game.”

The Highlanders racked up four errors; the Spartans committed three.

After Northwestern’s disastrous first inning, Shepaug committed two straight errors in the bottom of the first, but escaped with a double play.

Shepaug scored two runs in the third inning on another wild-pitch strikeout after Chance Dutcher (2for-3, double) and Kyle LaMay (2-for-4, 2 doubles) kept the bottom half of the Spartan order cranking with a single and a double.

“Northwestern can hit you just have to keep adding on and adding on, any way you can,” Shepaug

coach Scott Werkhoven said.

That meant five more runs in the top of the fifth on a final hit against Oley, two more against reliever Zach West and two more Highlander errors.

Down 11-0, Northwestern escaped the 10-run mercy rule with three runs in the bottom of the inning on three hits, a hit batter and a Spartan error.

Even with another run in the sixth on a leadoff double by Levi Delaney (2for-3) and sacrifice fly by Mike Bobinski, the game was a lost cause for the Highlanders.

“We’ll just go back to our routine tomorrow,” Nelligan said.