HARDWICK – The Hazen Union baseball team showed a lot of growth in a pair of losses to Division II Montpelier and Lamoille last week, despite dropping to 1-3 on the season.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Brody Stanton surrendered just one hit over five innings of work, striking seven Wildcats leading Montpelier to a 6-1 win on the road on Friday. The Solons jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a trio of Hazen errors and hits from Stanton (2-3 with a triple), Arda Kohn (2-3, double) and Jaysen Graves 1-3, 2 runs). Graves closed the game out for Montpelier with two innings of hitless relief. Grayson McNaughten had the lone hit for the Wildcats. Jon Sicard took the loss, striking out 10 Solons, while also issuing 10 walks on the day.
“Jon’s going to be a great asset to this team on the mound as he learns to figure out his control. He’s only a sophomore and has plenty of time to sort that out. He is his hardest critic. He’s learning to accept his failures and learn from them in a game where perfection doesn’t exist. He’s going to continue to grow and get better with every game he pitches. Lots of great things for that athlete in the future,” said head coach Shaun Allen.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Lamoille took advantage of some more wildness on the mound from Hazen on Saturday, scoring three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to steal a 3-2 home win. The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead into the sixth before McNaughten had to leave the mound with a pair of runners on base and his pitch count maxed out. Fellow senior Owen Skorstad took over, but couldn’t find the strike zone, walking four straight Lancers. Hazen rallied back with a run in the top of the seventh, but Daniel Micuch (three Ks) settled down to close it out for Lamoille. McNaughten was the hard-luck loser, scattering three hits and striking out 11 over five-and-two-thirds innings of work. Skorstad and Chayse Newell led the Wildcat offense with two hits apiece as Hazen outhit Lamoille 8-3 and stranded 15 baserunners in the loss.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
“Lamoille has a good team this year. I think I probably made the wrong choice bringing Owen in with runners on. I should have left him behind the plate to help guide Avery Loomis through that inning and then bring Owen in to start the seventh on the mound. We got one back in the seventh but just fell a little short of pulling it off,” said Allen.
Hazen looked to right the ship on Tuesday with a home tilt against Thetford Academy before traveling to Lyndon Institute on Thursday. They wrap up a busy week with a match-up against Lake Region at Hudson Fields Saturday afternoon.
All home games can be live-streamed on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).
