A job well Dunn
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Vermont's Henry Dunn bunts to get on base during the third inning of Tuesday's contest with Lowell at the Montpelier Recreation Field. STEFAN HARD/TIMES ARGUS |
Toolbox
By KRIS MARTIN Correspondent - Published: June 24, 2009
MONTPELIER- A man in the back screamed "Henry Dunn attack," and it turned into a ballroom blitz.
Dunn reached base five times, stole three bases and scored five times as the Vermont Mountaineers downed the Lowell All-Americans 9-2 in New England Collegiate baseball League action Tuesday evening. Clay Jones had five RBI's and Jayson Hernandez chipped in a two-run double.
"Henry was outstanding, he was incredible," manager Troy Moock said. "He's been a huge spark at the top of our lineup and he's been playing great. When you can run like that you don't even have to hit. Henry is an explosive player, and Clay is a great kid who does everything I ask of him who just plays the game the right way."
Mountaineer starting pitcher Alex Kaminsky had to get through a rough opening inning, as an error allowed Lowell's leadoff batter Matt Miller to reach first. Kaminsky then walked the next batter, Oliver Palmer. David Gustafson promptly launched an RBI-double over left fielder Jake Williams. Kaminsky then hit cleanup hitter Kyle Felix after a long at bat to load the bases. Fortunately for the Mountaineers, Kaminsky settled to strike out Eric Oxford and then induce an inning-ending double-play.
The Mountaineers answered right back in the bottom of the first. Henry Dunn did what he does best — lead off the inning with a bunt single and steal second base. Jantzen Witte went down by strikeout but Clay Jones singled up the middle off of the second baseman Palmer's glove, scoring the speedy centerfielder to even things up 1-1.
Speed never takes a day off, and in the bottom of the third inning Dunn was at it again, reaching on a dropped third strike. He then made a quick swipe of second base, and later moved up to third on a wild pitch. Two batters later Jones popped down the right field line, and Palmer made the catch in foul territory for the out, but a heads-up Dunn had tagged up at third and had plenty of time to scamper home with the Mountaineers' second run.
"I try to get on base and fortunately for us the guys behind me just kept driving me in," Dunn said. "It's about applying pressure to the defense. When I get on it seems like the guys behind me get better pitches to hit."
Meanwhile, Kaminsky had settled in and found cruise control, retiring 13 straight batters before finally surrendering a walk to Lowell shortstop Tom Elliott in the top of the fifth. A single from Miller pushed Elliott to third but Kaminsky rebounded and got Palmer looking to end the inning and the threat.
Nick Martinez led off the bottom of the fifth. Capitalizing on an error and once more Dunn showed how speed can change the game. Shattering his bat on the swing, the ball rolled slowly between first and the pitcher. With Lowell first baseman Eric Oxford and pitcher Nick Serino caught out of position on the swing, it became a footrace between Serino and Dunn, and naturally Dunn finished first. Martinez and Dunn were then nudged over on a sacrifice bunt from Witte. Jones then collected two more RBI's, singling up the middle to score Martinez and Dunn to make it 4-1.
The All-Americans put a run on Kaminsky in the top of the sixth as Felix doubled to the gap in right-centerfield and Oxford singled him home, making it 4-2. Kaminsky finished the inning though, getting Effery Valdez to fly out to Ethan Paquette in right, and grounding out Dan Godefroi to first.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mountaineers put the game out of reach. After having the first two batters of the inning reach base against Lowell reliever Conor Burke, new reliever Bobby Lucas had his first pitch launched to the gap in right centerfield courtesy of Hernandez, scoring a pair of runs. Both Hernandez and Dunn would later score in the inning, making it 8-2.
"Our problem before was that we just were not getting the big hit in a key situation," Dunn said. "Every time tonight when we had a man on second, we were able to drive him in. It's all about being able to put the ball in play."
"I think we did a good job tonight of getting runners on base," Jones said. "Henry did a good job and Jantzen had some good at bats. I got some good pitches to hit, and then it was just about putting the bat on the ball. We came out early today, took some extra batting practice and lightened things up a bit."
Dunn reached for the fifth time on an infield single in the eighth, scoring on a single from Jones.
"We did a few things to loosen up before the game," Moock continued. "We have a loose group of guys but for whatever reason we're just not getting the big hits. Jayson had a big double for us, and Alex kinda' struggled in the first inning but did a good job of turning around early. I took him aside and told him to take just one pitch at a time."
In from the Mountaineer bullpen, Justin Jackson pitched the seventh and eighth before giving way to Colin Duffie who closed the ninth.
The Mountaineers (8-7) will be away today, playing the North Shore Navigators at Fraser Field in Lynn, MA. Game time is 7 p.m.
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