A slew of small missed opportunities lead to one big one on Saturday afternoon as the Mascenic baseball team lost to Raymond 5-4 and ended their season in the quarterfinal round of the NHIAA playoffs.
The Vikings hosted the Rams after Raymond, the No. 16 seed came out of nowhere and upset No. 1 Campbell on Thursday. With the defending champions out of the picture Mascenic’s road to the Final Four seem to be a little bit easier but the Rams had other plans.
Scott Humphrey pitched a complete game for Mascenic, digging deep in big situations and getting strikeouts when he needed them, but the damage was done early.
Raymond scored three runs in the second inning due to a few Mascenic misplays, then added another in the fourth as star catcher Dylan Greenwood reached on an error, stole second and third on high throws and then scored on a single.
“We did it to ourselves,” said head coach Kevin Rines after the game. “We were our own undoing.”
Daimon Gibson would reach on a fielder’s choice in the third and score on a Travis Rautiola double, and Chase Holombo took home on a passed ball to give Mascenic two runs. But Raymond would answer right back with an insurance run in the fifth to put them up 5-2.
Holombo and Rautiola got on in the fifth; Holombo scored on a Roman Ojala sac fly and Rautiola was plated by a Drew Rines single, but that was all Mascenic could muster.
With Raymond starter Andrew Dupuis flagging in the late innings on a hot afternoon, Michael Phillips walked in the sixth and Gibson was hit by a pitch. Dupuis got Holombo swinging to end that threat, and then induced three pop outs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game and end Mascenic’s season at 12-8.
Mascenic got into the quarterfinals by beating White Mountains 11-1 on Thursday. Ojala, Phillips and Rines each drove in two runs in that game. Humphrey and Cooper Wayrynen split the game on the mound, with Humphrey pitching 2.1 innings and striking out three while allowing just one hit, while Wayrynen pitched 3.2 and got another three strikeouts with one earned run.