Nighthawks Fall to Visiting Pilgrims (Interviews)

Tuesday, the Upper Valley Nighthawks hosted the Plymouth Pilgrims at the Maxfield sports complex in Hartford, Vermont for another New England Collegiate Baseball League matchup.

The Nighthawks came in with a record of 10 and 15 while the Pilgrims held a record of 11 and 15. Billy Layne got the start for the Hawks while Blake Workman took the mound for the Pilgrims. Right out of the gate it appeared as if Plymouth would run away with this one as they were able to score twice off of errors from Layne and shortstop Matt Maul. Layne appeared to have twisted his ankle as he made an errant throw to first after a bunt. He would only pitch a third of an inning and was quickly taken out of the game.

The Nighthawks now in a hole down 2 to zero, didn’t get discouraged as they would quickly answer with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning after singles from Maul and Joseph Denison set up a two run double from designated hitter Trent Leimkuehler. Third baseman Al Molina then followed with an RBI triple who was then singled in from first baseman Zach Canada. The Hawks then held the lead 4 to 2.

But the Pilgrims weren’t done offensively as they were able to score once in the second, once in the third, once in the fourth and three times in the fifth. The Hawks did manage to score once in the third off of an RBI groundout from catcher Lukas Ray which gave them back the lead but then in the fourth, came a solo game tying homer off of the bat of Pilgrims shortstop Jeremy Pena who blasted a ball to left field.

With the game now tied at 5 apiece, the Pilgrims came up to bat in the top of the 5th with the bases loaded. First basemen Cole Gordon had been 0 for 4 up to this point but he would make up for it with a bases clearing two out double to give his team an 8 – 5 lead. This deficit would be too much for the Nighthawks to overcome as they went on to lose 9 to 5 falling to 10 and 16 on the year. Blake Workman got the Win for the Pilgrims while reliever Avery Fliger was tagged with the loss.

Both teams has 10 hits but the main theme was errors as the Pilgrims committed three while the Nighthawks committed 4. After the win, the Plymouth Pilgrims improve to 12 and 15.