By Justin A. Rice
Then again, he wasn’t planning on using two pitchers either as the Vikings barely escaped with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.
“It’s tough to come into a game and shut down a team at the end of the game so you get the game ball,” Cronin told John Jardin after the senior moved to the mound from shortstop to record the save. “The other ball goes to Dave (Pierce) for getting us there, but it’s also to get you to squeeze it so you can come back ASAP.”
Pierce, an Enterprise All-Scholastic last baseball season, left the game in the seventh with an elbow injury after collecting five strikeouts and allowing two runs in 62/3 innings of work.
“It’s cold and it’s early so, hopefully, nothing (serious) happened,” said Pierce, who helped his own cause by driving in three runs. “We were just taking a precaution. I never had it before. It was just a quick pain.
“I thought ‘Maybe it’s all right, I’ll try to throw,’ but the next one wasn’t as good as the last one. I worked so hard before the season to build up strength so, hopefully, it will heal on its own.”
Pierce’s departure came two innings after East Bridgewater (1-0) fumbled a ball at second base to miss a double-play opportunity that allowed Plymouth South to tie the game at 2-2.
Jardin got the last out of the sixth and first out of the seventh before things got hairy.
Plymouth South junior pitcher Cory Rego got to first before stealing second. Jardin struck out junior second baseman Cai Perryclear before junior third baseman Joe Sacchetti’s single knocked home Rego to make the score 4-3 with two outs.
Senior Brian Allen, pinch-hitting for junior shortstop John Carroll, then trickled the ball down the third-base line and dove headfirst into first base to barely beat out the throw. Jardin, however, got leadoff hitter and junior right fielder Blaine Theisen to fly out to right field and end the game.
“I wanted to close out for him,” Jardin said of Pierce. “He deserved to win. The team deserves to win.
“I was loose being out on the field. As soon as I’m out on the mound, I gotta build up that confidence and cockiness and know nobody can hit my next pitch.”
Cronin said he had confidence in Jardin to make the save because Jardin was the team’s No. 1 pitcher for three years before Pierce won the spot for himself.
“So John knows what he’s doing, he’s not a novice,” Cronin said. “He’s played under a lot of pressure situations.
“I was comfortable with him coming in but he couldn’t throw the ball in for a strike with his curve. That was the issue.”
Plymouth South coach John Peila also liked his team’s last-ditch effort in its season debut.
“The kids played hard the whole game,” he said. “They never quit. We’re a young team and they are going to learn how to win these types of games down the road.”
Peila lauded junior left fielder Nick Shaw’s offense (three hits, one run) and Rego’s performance on the mound, where he struck out two and gave up two walks. Rego also stole two bases.
But it was Pierce who stole the show.
The Vikings senior did not walk a batter and his two-run single in the fourth broke a 2-2 tie. Senior right fielder Brendan O’Brien had opened the inning with a double before senior second baseman Justin DeAudrode worked the count for a walk.
Pierce’s last outing was a 4-2 loss to Westwood in last spring’s Div. 3 South Sectional final.
“We’ve been there before,” Pierce said of the loss to Westwood, which went on the win the state title. “We’re ready to get there. … We are very determined because we got everything to play for. We lost to the team that won it all, it was right there.”
Before he can get back there, Pierce has to make sure his arm is healthy enough to carry the Vikings where they want to go.
“Dave, you go home and take care of that arm and call me later,” Cronin told his ace. “First thing, let it thaw out and don’t do any more pitching tonight.”
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