Oak Hill pitcher
Pat Duchette tosses a
no-hit shutout.
WALES – If the pitching staff keeps this up, it’s not going to matter what kind of lineup Oak Hill High School baseball coach Bill Fairchild uses.
Pat Duchette tossed a complete-game, no-hit shutout, striking out 12 and walking just four , as Oak Hill squeezed out a 3-0 win over Winslow in a KVAC baseball matinee on Monday.
“Our pitching has been excellent so far,” said Fairchild. “We are very deep this year in that department, and that’s promising, but we still need to start hitting more.”
The Raiders (3-0) managed just five hits against the Black Raiders (1-2), but took advantage of their team speed on the basepaths.
The pivotal point for Oak Hill came on defense. Clinging to a 2-0 lead, Winslow’s Rick Vigue, regarded by many as one of the fastest baserunners in the conference, took a large lead at first base with only one out. Duchette tried to pick Vigue off, but the speedy lead-off hitter scampered back in time. Thinking he had some extra room, Vigue expanded his lead on the next pitch.
Duchette fired to first as Vigue took off for second. First baseman Mike Daggett relayed the throw to second and picked Vigue off. On the next pitch, Duchette struck out Ryan Lindie to end the inning.
“That was a big play for us to turn,” said second baseman Jason Guerette. “At the time, the tying run was at the plate and there was only one out. That whole sequence took them out of the game.”
In the bottom half of the inning, Oak Hill loaded the bases with one out, but couldn’t score. In the sixth, the Raiders did push another insurance run across on a Kyle Harrington walk and two consecutive singles by Adam Labbe and Duchette.
“That really picked the team up,” said Duchette. “We had a boost of confidence after that. I wouldn’t want to play against us after a play like that turned everyone’s attitude around.”
Not that the offense needed to do much more work anyway. Duchette finished the game like he had started it, with a strike out.
“It helps us as hitters to know that we don;t need to go out there and carry the team,” said Guerette. “Obviously, we want to score runs, but the pressure isn’t as bad when you have pitchers like ours.”
Oak Hill first plated a run in the second inning, when Guerette walked, took second on a fielder’s choice, stole third and scampered home on an Adam Shaffstall single.
The Raiders tacked on run No. 2 in the third inning when Duchette drove Harrington home from second with a double.
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