Local collegiate baseball: Blue Sox send Rapids to sixth loss in nine games
Jun. 11—WATERTOWN — Pitching and defense carried the Utica Blue Sox as they stopped a three-game losing streak.
Ben Partridge recorded three hits and Utica took advantage of three Watertown Rapids' errors to get a 6-1 Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League victory Saturday night at the Toyota Field at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.
Holden de Jong picked up the pitching victory with four innings for the Blue Sox (3-5), who bounced back after losing three straight.
Pranav Sundar drove in the Rapids' only run with a sacrifice fly while Cory Arthur took the loss on the mound. Arthur looked solid on the mound for a second straight start, but the Watertown defense struggled. The Rapids (3-6) have made 16 errors in nine games this season.
"Our defense couldn't get much worse and it was a pretty rough night," Rapids manager Mike Kogut said. "In one inning, I think we gave them seven outs and you're not going to win games doing that."
Utica's defense played an error-free game and made some strong defensive plays to limit Watertown's chances. The Blue Sox got a double play to end a rally in the fifth inning and took away some hits from that could have extended innings.
"We played the game the right way with no errors," Utica manager Doug Delett said. "Our pitchers were throwing strikes and we swung the bats well."
Utica got on the board after Partridge took advantage of some errant Watertown throws. Ryan Rifenberg plated Andre Demetral with a single and Taylor Kaufman came home after another Watertown error.
Partridge has gotten off to a great start for the Blue Sox with a .458 average.
"I've been seeing the ball really well at the plate," he said. "I'm just glad to get the job done at the plate and help the team."
Watertown got on the board after Sundar plated LaFargeville native Owen Parliament with a sacrifice fly. Offensive opportunities for the Rapids were limited as the Blue Sox used a committee of pitchers that each presented different looks.
Watertown only had four baserunners after de Jong exited in the fourth.
"Their bullpen did a nice job and they were efficient," Kogut said. "We did a nice job at the plate early on, but we hit some balls on the screws and they made some good plays on defense."
Utica broke the game open after a dropped fly ball off the bat of first baseman Will Shannon unloaded the bases and completed the scoring at 6-1. Cashing in on chances is something the Blue Sox need to do if they want to continue their winning ways.
"The table was turned from earlier in the season," Delett said. "We were the team that was giving it away, but we took more than we gave in this game."
Delett said that he has to try his best to get his pitchers plenty of work. However, he liked what he saw of the Blue Sox hurlers as Kris Giangreco and Avery Cook each struck out the side in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
"The last two innings, our pitchers each got three strikeouts and got it done," Partridge said.
The Rapids did get nearly five innings of shutout ball from their bullpen. Austin McClure and Teck Nash turned in strong efforts to try and keep Watertown in the game.
"They came in and shut it right down," Kogut said. "Teck went two innings and gave up no runs on 15 pitches, so you can't do any better than that."
Watertown and Utica will play each other again at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Fairgrounds. However, the Rapids turn their attention to the unbeaten and defending league champion Amsterdam Mohawks (7-0) at 5 Sunday at home. Amsterdam downed Watertown, 14-2, last Tuesday.
"We got a great team coming to town and we got to turn the page and move onto that," Kogut said.
