WALES – With his team down 6-2 and Oak Hill starter Mike Eaton seemingly in cruise control, Winslow coach Robin Weed channeled Tug McGraw before the sixth inning of Friday’s KVAC game.
“I yelled over, Ya gotta believe’, and everybody got on the top step of the dugout and that was it,” Weed said.
The Black Raiders took their inspiration from their coach, and the late reliever who coined the phrase “Ya gotta believe” for the 1973 Mets, and scored nine runs in the last two innings for a come-from-behind 11-8 win.
“We kept on getting the little things done and their pitcher kind of ran out of gas,” Weed said. “We got timely hits, stole some bases and got a couple of breaks.”
Steve Siviski squandered an early 2-1 lead in relief, but more than made up for it with his bat, going 4-for-5 with two singles, a double, a triple and three runs driven in to lead Winslow’s 15-hit attack. Ryan Lindie added three hits, including a double and a home run.
Josh Jillson had an outstanding day for Oak Hill, going 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple.
“That’s three games in a row that we’ve had a big inning happen to us,” said Oak Hill coach Chad Drouin. “With the youth that we have on the field, when the baseball gods allow those balls to find every hole, then we start feeling the pressure and stop making the plays when we have to.”
Ryan Lindie tied the game at one in the third with his homer to left field off Raiders’ starter Mike Eaton (5 2/3 innings, 10 hits, 10 Ks, one walk). The Black Raiders then took the lead in the fourth on Siviski’s triple and Kevin McCabe’s sacrifice fly.
Oak Hill (3-6) bounced back with three in the fourth. Jillson’s leadoff triple chased starter Jason Lopez. Siviski came in and yielded back-to-back walks and two wild pitches that scored Jillson and allowed Josh Daggett to drive in the go-ahead run with an opposite field single. Mike Eaton’s ground out scored Deven Eaton to make it 6-2.
Jillson struck again in the fifth, cranking a 3-2 pitch from Siviski over the fence in right-center to widen the lead to 8-2.
Winslow (8-1) sent 12 men to the plate an scored six in the sixth. Doubles by Siviski, Justin Lindie (two hits) and Josh Goulette got it started. A two-run single by Brendan Weed (two hits, three RBIs) tied the game, and an Eric Lopez single chased Eaton.
“He was probably tired before that, but I felt like he had three outs left in him,” Drouin said.
Corey Martin greeted reliever Chris Ellis with an infield hit, which Siviski followed with an RBI single.
Winslow plated three more in the seventh, the big blow coming on Siviski’s two-run single. Corey Martin gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but picked up the win in relief.
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