FALMOUTH — Pitching, clutch hitting, and a little leather. You’ve got to have it to win the close ones.
You’ve got to love it when you get it. Wells received all of the above and then some Wednesday’s WMC baseball clash with fellow tourney wannabes, Falmouth, in which they Warriors clawed out a 2-1 win in eight innings.
Senior right hander Brian Trefethen gave Wells all it could ask for on the mound, scattering five hits in a gutsy complete game effort.
Kevin Banks singled in Josh Mayo with the game winning run in the top of the eighth.
And the leather?
Mayo provided that, too, with an eye-popping lunging catch in center that might well have saved the day for the playoff hungry Warriors (7-4).
“We just battled the whole game,” said Mayo, who scored Wells’ first run, too, in the top of the sixth. “This was huge.”
Huge, too, would describe the Trefethen’s outing.
He wriggled out of trouble in the bottom of the first, when he allowed the first two Yachtsmen to reach base, then left the runners marooned.
Trefethen proceeded to set down the next 10 batters while registering three of his five strikeouts.
Then, with two out in the fourth, Falmouth’s Ben Wilson and worked his way to third.
Trefethen left him glued to the bag by getting Tim Myers to strike out swinging.
“(This) young man,” said Wells coach Chuck Chadbourne, “we average two runs a game for him. But these two were enough.”
Meanwhile, Falmouth starter Dillon Dresser was able to keep Warrior hitters off balance.
He allowed just three base runners through the first five innings.
Mayo, hitting lead off, had a difficult time in his first two at bats, striking out once, and later popping up weakly to first.
He finally made solid contact in the sixth, and sent a slap single into center field.
“I didn’t do a very good job (during) the first two,” said Mayo. “And I wanted to help out. I tried my best.”
Mayo stole second, then came in with the run that made it 1-1, when James Mannion slugged Dresser’s 2-0 offering into left field.
“I don’t think I’ve run any harder in my life,” said Mayo.
Mayo put his speed to good use twice more.
With one out in the eighth, Mayo doubled into gap in center field.
That brought up Banks, who had failed to get the ball out of the infield in his three previous trips.
Banks teed off on Dresser’s first pitch and drove it to center, which allowed Mayo to scamper in from second with the go-ah ead tally.
Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Mayo pulled off a highlight reel catch on Brett Emmertz, whose line drive to center seemed destined to drop and roll for extra bases.
Instead, Mayo lunged and fully extended his frame and snagged the ball from mid-air, managing to hang on to it as he hit the turf.
“I’ve always wanted to make one of those catches,” Mayo said. “I finally had a chance, and I said, ”˜I’m not going to pass it up. I’m going to lay out.’
“I thought I could get to it, and when I saw I couldn’t, I thought, ”˜alright. Here I go.’”
The Warriors will host York, Friday.
— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 318 or at dhickling@gwi.net.
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