WALES – Friday’s game between two of the top teams in the KVAC lived up to its billing, offering a little bit of everything for the high school baseball fan.

Pat Duchette’s RBI single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh finally settled the see-saw affair, giving Oak Hill a 6-5 win over Winslow.

“Every time we went down we just battled back,” Duchette said.

After Eric Lopez’s second home run of the game tied it for Winslow in the top of the seventh, Oak Hill got the winning rally started in the bottom of the frame thanks to back-to-back Winslow errors with none out. Adam Labbe sacrificed the runners to second and third, leading to an intentional walk to Adam Shaffstall, who had an RBI single earlier, to load the bases.

Duchette then ripped a 1-1 pitch from Lopez down the right field line, out of the reach of right fielder Matt McLean, to send Kyle Harrington (two runs) home with the winning run.

“When they walked Shaffstall, he looked over at me and smiled. He was a little upset because he knew we both wanted that chance,” said Duchette, who redeemed himself following a shaky outing on the mound. “I felt like I could finally help my team out because I really wasn’t throwing that well. Once it came off the bat I knew if it stayed fair that it would drop.”

“We kind of helped them a little bit in situations where we didn’t execute,” said Winslow coach Robin Weed, whose team made four errors, three of which led to runs. “They put a lot of people on base, it seemed like every inning. They stole a lot of bases (five) and they bunted well. They forced the issue.”

Lopez (6 1/3 innings, six hits, four earned runs) forced the Raiders (2-1) to come from behind with a three-run home run to left in the third off Duchette that put the Black Raiders (2-1) on top, 3-2. Oak Hill tied the game on Adam Labbe’s RBI single in the bottom of the third.

Duchette (3 2/3 innings, four runs five hits, 5 strikeouts, two walks) ran into trouble again in the fourth, yielding a two-out walk to McLean, then an RBI double to Ryan Lindie (two hits) before being pulled in favor of Ricky Leavitt. Leavitt prevented further damage by getting Lopez to ground out to third.

Oak Hill, which had no extra base hits, trumped Winslow’s power with some more small ball to take the lead again in the bottom of the fourth. Wally Rines squeezed Jason Guerette home with the tying run and Harrington scored Kyle Lunn with the go-ahead run on a ground out.

“When you play Winslow, it’s going to be a one-run ball game,” said Oak Hill coach Bill Fairchild. “We play for one every inning, and a lot of times, good things happen.”

Leavitt (3 1/3, one run, two hits, six Ks) dominated Winslow until the seventh, when Lopez drilled a 1-1 pitch to almost the same spot he hit his first home run, except about 25 feet deeper.

“I haven’t let up a home run since my freshman year, and that one was probably the furthest I’ve seen one hit off of me,” Leavitt said. “Coach told me to throw change-ups and sliders away from him but the catcher called a fastball. That’s what happens when you don’t listen to your coach.”

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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