The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School baseball team staged a mid-game comeback to defeat the Barnstable High School Red Hawks at the Island’s Shark Tank on Wednesday.
The win improves the team’s record to 4 and 7 on the season.
It wasn’t looking good to start the game. Barnstable’s first two batters roped back-to-back bombs, taking an early lead over the Island team. The lead would grow but the Vineyarders — anchored by a composed junior Eli Bryant on the mound — stayed consistent and kept themselves within reach.
After finding their footing, Vineyard bats started coming alive and balls started getting through Barnstable’s infield but it wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning that the Island team started piling on runs and erasing what had grown to a five-run deficit. After a series of gritty Vineyard at bats, and three hit batters in a row, Barnstable went to the bullpen. But not before the Vineyard would plate some seven runs.
In the seventh inning, and with one out remaining, the Vineyarders pulled Bryant from the mound to preserve his pitch count and had junior Tripp Arciaga relieve. Barnstable was able to squeeze one run by late in the seventh but Arciaga ultimately made a heads up play to pick off a Barnstable runner at second to end the game with a final score of 10-7.
“Eli Bryant (No. 5) deserves a lot of credit for staying the course,” said Moore. “He battled for us the entire time, even from behind and then once we tied it up and took a lead, he kept us there the entire time.”
Having lost to Barnstable in a close game early in the season, the Vineyarders were primed for some payback.
“We played them before. We out hit them but we didn’t do much with guys in scoring positions,” said Moore reflecting on the game in early April. “Today in the beginning of the second half, it felt like we were taking out some frustration on them but that’s what the second half should look like for us.”
While their record might not be where they want it to be, Moore said that they are growing.
“We are having some growing pains, but this group is great. They come out ready to work and I can’t say enough about the effort they put in,” Moore said. “I am asking a lot of them; they come everyday to practice ready to work and get better and it feels good because this is what hard work is for — seeing them celebrate is awesome.”
