Cougars drop regular season finale 6-4 in 12 innings

MANCHESTER, CT – MCC took a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning in the final regular season game of 2009, but couldn’t hang on against a scrappy Holyoke team, eventually losing a 6-4 decision in 12 innings Monday afternoon at MCC.

Dan Nelson (Glastonbury) struck out nine while scattering seven hits over eight plus innings, allowing four runs, three of them earned. It was the unearned run that allowed the game to go into extra frames. Nelson fielded Carlos Rivera’s bunt in front of home plate leading off the ninth and threw the ball wide to first. Rivera stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.

Nelson threw 116 pitches and walked three, but none after the third inning when he rang up 12 consecutive outs. Steve Simon (Middlefield) retired all six batters he faced in relief of Nelson. Ryan Carroll (Newington) retired five straight, but a two-out walk, followed by a stolen base and back to back singles plated the two runs Holyoke used to win the game.

James McGowan (South Windsor) had an RBI double and Peter Burgio (Bolton) an RBI single, scored a run and stole a base. MCC finishes the regular season with a 24-15-1 mark including an 11-3 record in Region 21, Division III games. The Cougars with likely be the #1 seed in the Division tournament starting Friday in Brockton, MA. Pairings will be announced late Tuesday night.

“It was nice tune-up for him,” MCC Head Coach Chris Strahowski said. “We got him deep into a game, get a feel for his pitches. It’s been a while since he’s been on the mound. It’s a good outing for him, definitely.”

Nicholas Vautrin pitched all 12 innings for Holyoke, giving up single runs in the second, third fifth and seventh. Vautrin, who was covering for a depleted Holyoke bullpen, got stronger as the game progressed. The right handed freshman faced the minimum amount of batters over the final three frames. He retired Nick Melino (Cromwell) to end the game on a bomb to the right-centerfield gap that Holyoke centerfielder Eric Charbonneau chased down to end the game.

“We hit some balls right at people,” Strahowski said. “We came out a little flat, had some poor at-bats the first five, six innings. In the back of their minds they kind of knew we didn’t need the game so they kind of played like it until they finally decided they want to win this game. It’s tough to play like that ”