A Little Daring on the Bases the Difference for East Hampton

It was a small detail with a big impact.

During the course of the game, East Hampton’s Austin Wosleger noticed that Coginchaug pitcher Kevin Gawron was taking his time between pitches. So, standing on second with two out in the bottom of the sixth inning and East Hampton clinging to a 2-1 lead, Wosleger decided to make his break for third.

Wosleger was probably three quarters of the way there before Gawron realized what was happening and turned to make a desperate throw. Wosleger slid in safely while the ball bounced away into foul territory. Wosleger picked himself up and raced home with the Bellringers’ third run.

And what a big run it turned out to be.

East Hampton escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh to hold off visiting Coginchaug for a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

For Wosleger, the daring decision to run was his.

“I ran on my own,” the junior said. “I saw the third baseman was playing on the grass. The pitcher was looking in … all game I was watching and he was taking a long time, and I was like, ‘If I get on, I’m going.’”

Does the team have a green light on the bases?

“Most of the time,” Wosleger said. “We’re not stupid about it.”

Making the third out, however, might have had consequences.

“I would be running the hill back there,” Wosleger said.

Using two walks, a sacrifice bunt, an error and singles by Adam Michaud and Marvin Gorgas, East Hampton took a 2-0 lead in the third.

It appeared that would be enough for Michaud, who sailed through the first five innings, allowing no runs, two hits and striking out six.

But Coginchaug, which lost a day earlier on a 10^th-inning, walk-off home run at Valley Regional, was looking for a little late-inning magic of its own.

The Blue Devils made it 2-1 with two out in the sixth when Robert Lane reached on a two-base error, then was brought home on a single by Roe Granger. Granger, however, was thrown out trying to advance to second to end the inning.

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, Coginchaug (4-14) wasted little time in mounting a threat. Gawron singled leading off and with one out, Marcial Little singled to chase Michaud.

Gorgas came in and allowed another single to load the bases with the top of the order due up. The freshman righthander got Yuri Morin to ground into a force at second base for the second out, but a run scored to close the deficit to 3-2. With two runners on, Ryan Sirois hit a soft, shallow pop that shortstop Nate Heroux grabbed to end the game. It was the ninth save this season for Gorgas.

Pitching for the first time in eight days, Michaud was strong.

“He’s a little bit better when rested,” East Hampton coach Scott Wosleger said. “We noticed a little bit of difference between five days and four and certainly more than five he has more velocity and velocity that lasts throughout the game.

“He competes so much out there. He hates coming out.”

With two wins in two days despite not getting much offense, the Bellringers are 14-4 with two games remaining in the regular season.

“Today was frustrating,” Wosleger said. “We knew they had a tough loss [Friday night], a really, really tough loss. They came in and they were visibly down. We did not have good focus at the plate and we just did not have good at-bats. Thank goodness we played a little defense and we pitched, and it was just good enough.

“We feel fortunate.”

Having to play four games in five days, Wosleger is planning on altering his pitching rotation. He said senior Austin Shumbo will probably get the start Monday against Valley Regional.

With postseason positioning and potential first-round byes at stake, Shumbo’s first start of the season will come with some pressure, but Wosleger wasn't worried.

“He’s a guy mentally that can handle it,” he said.