Larkin tops Hampshire for third straight
If Hampshire’s baseball players need inspiration to bounce back from Monday’s season-opening 7-2 loss at Larkin, they can take a cue from the very team that beat them.
Using a combination of effective starting pitching, aggressive baserunning and offensive execution, the Royals won their third straight to improve to 3-1 overall. The win continues a nice bounce back for Larkin, which lost its season opener by a run at Dundee-Crown 10 days earlier.
“The day after games we always go over positives and negatives, and even against Dundee-Crown there seemed to be more positives than negatives,” Larkin coach Matt Esterino said of his team’s solid start. “We’re not making the same mistakes twice. That’s huge.”
Hampshire wasn’t as fortunate. Junior left-hander Luke Wians, who as a sophomore went 4-3 with a 2.65 ERA, struggled to find his control on a sunny day with temperatures stuck in the thirties. In the first two innings Wians walked 5 batters and hit another as Larkin scored twice in each inning.
“I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be,” Wians said. “I couldn’t get the ball down the first two innings. Once I started getting it down, they hit. It was cold, but I have no excuses. I thought I was ready, but it wasn’t there today.”
A big thorn in Hampshire’s side was senior leadoff man Trevor Whitehead. Larkin’s speedy center field drew 3 walks and swiped 3 bases, including home plate on a first-inning double-steal attempt that put the Royals ahead 1-0.
Whitehead also tripled with one out in the seventh inning and scored on No. 2 hitter Drew Shore’s squeeze bunt. It was the fourth run Whitehead scored in 4 plate appearances.
“That’s what the leadoff position is meant to do,” Whitehead said. “I just get on base and let the (Nos.) 2, 3 and 4 hitters hit me in.”
Hampshire managed single runs against Larkin starting pitcher Miguel Villafane (1-0) in the third and fourth innings to trim its deficit to 4-2. Matt Calvello scored on a wild pitch in the third. Sean O’Shea singled to open the fourth and later scored when a double-play relay sailed to the fence for an error.
However, Villafane otherwise kept Hampshire’s lineup from igniting. He struck out six Hampshire hitters (one in each inning worked) and allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits with 3 walks in 5 innings.
“My arm felt good,” said Villafane, who was limited to 95 pitches in his second start. “I was hitting my spots. That’s what I want to do, paint corners.”
Larkin added breathing room in the fourth inning when senior Victor Saldana’s 2-run single made it 6-2, but Saldana paid for it.
“It stung my hands. It hurt,” the senior first baseman said. “It was an outside fastball and I kind of pulled it.”
Though it was far from a perfect outing for Class 3A Hampshire against a Class 4A school, it had it’s silver lining
“If we learned anything at all, it’s that we can compete,” Hampshire coach Steve Ream said. “But we just can’t give teams opportunities, especially a team like Larkin because they took advantage of every one we gave them. Most of the walks scored.
“Overall, for a first game it’s about what we expected.”