RUMFORD – Two turned out to be the magic number for Telstar on Saturday.
The Rebels scored 10 runs with two outs and knocked off the Mountain Valley Falcons 11-3 at Hosmer Field.
With Telstar’s field soggy from the recent rain, the two teams played in Rumford with Telstar being the home team.
Falcons starter Korey Staires (5-1) struggled with his control all three innings he worked. Despite the fact he allowed three hits and struck out seven, he labored throughout. The southpaw walked six batters while throwing 99 pitches (52 for strikes).
All three hits Staires allowed were damaging blows. Each came with two outs and two strikes on the hitter, and they all drove in a pair of runs.
With Mountain Valley (12-2) up 2-0 in the bottom of the first, the Telstar battery of catcher Ryan Savage and pitcher Terry Collins sandwiched walks around August Reiss reaching on an infield error. Staires would strike out the next two batters before Ryan Collins smacked a 1-2 curveball into left field to score Savage and Reiss.
In the second inning it was Collins turn with two outs and two strikes. His opposite-field double down the right-field line scored Nathan Walker and Savage, who had reached on free passes.
One inning later, Savage drove a two-out, 2-2 pitch over the head of right fielder Jeremy Sterling for a two-run double.
“It’s hard to defense the walks,” said Mountain Valley coach Steve Lapointe. “They got great two-out hitting. Every key hit came with two outs. That’s the sign of a good team.”
The Rebels chose a patient style in attacking Staires.
“When you live close by, you know the kids better,” Telstar coach Bob Remington said about the 20-odd mile distance between the two schools. “If (Staires) has a weakness, it’s command.”
The Falcons scratched for one more run in the fifth off Collins (3-2) when Kevin Capponi led off with a double to left and scored on an infield single by Pat Knapp, but that’s all they’d get off the right hander.
“He struggled all day,” said Remington. “He’s always been a fighter since his freshman year. He didn’t have his best stuff by any means, but he kept fighting.”
The Rebels changed their hitting approach when Marcus Palmer took the mound in relief of Staires. With two outs and a man on in the fifth, Savage drove the first pitch he saw from Palmer over the fence in right-center for his first home run of the season.
“(Palmer) was throwing a first-pitch fastball,” said Savage, “and then he was throwing his junk. (Coach) just said to sit on his fastball and I did.”
Trailing 9-3 in the sixth, the Falcons threatened to inch closer by loading the bases with one out. Collins, however, battled his way out of the inning by getting Capponi to go fishing on a curve ball low and away and then induced Ben French to ground out to end the inning.
“When he finally got his curveball down he was nasty,” Lapointe said of Collins.
The Rebels completed the scoring in the bottom half of the inning when Blake Conrad rapped a two-run single to right.
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