LACONIA, N.H. — The Laconia Muskrats beat themselves on Friday night as errors, wild pitches, hit batters and passed balls accounted for all five runs as the Vermont Mountaineers won their season opener, 5-0.
Early mistakes plagued the Muskrats and starter Jordan Sheffield as a pair of error-filled innings- a two-run second and a three-run ninth- was plenty of support for Mountaineers starter Ryan Davis.
Trey Amburgey and Alex Caruso reached on errors in the second and came around on a two-base error to give the Mountaineers an early 2-0 lead.
Both pitchers were very strong in the innings that followed, as Sheffield allowed just four hits and struck out five. He got out of several jams and made a couple of athletic plays off the mound, including an unassisted groundout where he beat out Caruso to first.
Davis, meanwhile, allowed just one hitter past second base over six shutout innings. Laconia hitters struggled against his combination of strong offspeed pitches and a quick-working style to strike out eight Muskrats.
His strong start was needed for the Mountaineers who don’t have their full roster yet and are especially weak on the pitching side. Several pitchers haven’t arrived yet as the Super Regionals are currently going on; returning reliever Robert Strader is still pitching for Louisville.
The second inning was an odd one. Amburgey led off and reached on an error to Muskrat’s third basemen Braxton Martinez. Caruso followed it up with a walk and Elliot Ashbeck pushed them over with a sacrifice bunt.
Sheffield struck out catcher Trey West and a ground ball to shortstop Cornelius Copeland looked to be the last out but it was booted and Caruso and Amburgey raced home to get a 2-0 lead.
Laconia got in a favorable situation in the seventh as they got Christopher Beall on with a leadoff error on shortstop Ben Hall. Davis left and handed the ball over to Jared Gesell, who shut the Muskrats down. He got a lineout, a groundout and catcher Evan Harasta threw out Beall trying to steal.
The Mountaineers almost struck again in the eighth after Jack Parenty led off the inning with a bunt single- his third hit of the game.
Chandler Brock moved him over with a bunt but the inning ended on a strange play.
Muskrat catcher Jacob Henson fired a bullet to second as they caught Parenty off second. However, the ball was in the dirt and snuck through into center. Parenty took off and manager Joe Brown sent him home but he was thrown out at the plate by Laconia center fielder Jack Sunberg.
The bottom of the eighth was more drama as Sunberg beat out an infield single after the first two Muskrats went down on strikes.
He stole second to get into scoring position but designated hitter Corey Geisler grounded out to Hall who made a strong defensive play.
Vermont struck for three more runs in the top of the ninth in a bizarre sequence of events. Robbie Knightes and Blake Tiberi singled and were moved over to third on a bunt. The Muskrats intentionally walked Ashbeck, then a wild pitch, walk, passed ball and hit batsman brought in all three of them.
Mountaineers Jared Gesell, who had replaced Davis in the sixth, finished off a strong three-inning outing with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout after giving off a leadoff double. Gesell fanned four and gave up just two hits.
Laconia went through four different pitchers after Sheffield, who was handed the loss despite not allowing an earned run. Davis picked up the win while Gesell earned the save.
The Mountaineers host the Valley Blue Sox tonight at 6:30 p.m.
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