YARMOUTH — While it took the Greely baseball team five innings to beat Yarmouth three weeks ago, it took Yarmouth more than five years to accomplish what it did Monday.
The Clippers rallied from a two-run deficit to beat the Rangers 3-2, their first win over Greely in more than half a decade. Greely (6-5) beat Yarmouth (6-3) 13-2 on April 25.
“We haven’t beaten Greely in five or six years – they’re obviously a great program that I have a lot of respect for,” Yarmouth Coach Marc Halsted said. “So it was important to get that monkey off our backs.”
Halsted said the difference was the performance of Dom Morrill, who pitched in both games. Morrill allowed seven hits over six innings, striking out four and walking two on Monday.
“He just simply pitched instead of threw today,” Halsted said. “When Dom Morrill did not pitch well, they beat him up pretty good. For him to step up and meet that challenge head-on just speaks volumes about his character.”
Down 2-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Yarmouth took the lead for good after James Waaler walked and then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Connor Sullivan. Jackson Caruso reached on an error, advancing Waaler to third before Eben Kiesow replaced Sullivan on the mound. Ben Norton doubled on a fly ball to left field, scoring Waaler and Caruso.
“It felt pretty good off the bat,” Norton said. “After the last Greely game, we were pretty down on ourselves. But we knew we could beat them.”
Yarmouth had a chance to extend its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases with no one out.
Nick Butler came on in relief and the Rangers got out of the jam. Will Neleski threw out Aidan Hickey at the plate for the first out. Then Butler struck out Waaler and got Jack Romano to fly out to end the inning.
Romano pitched the seventh to close out the win for Yarmouth.
“They had all of the momentum even though they were down one,” Halsted said. “And the kid who just ended the inning is now on the mound, but Jack Romano stepped up like he always does.”
Greely scored its runs in the first inning after an error by Hickey, Yarmouth’s shortstop, on a ground ball by Kiesow that allowed Butler and Luke Miller to score.
“I just had a bad play – it just slipped out of my hand,” Hickey said. “Then we just kept grinding, we knew we were fine.”
Hickey didn’t let the mistake get to him, ending the inning by fielding Connor Sullivan’s ground ball and throwing him out – one of many clutch plays by the sophomore.
“I had a feeling the two runs was not going to be enough – it never is,” Greely Coach Derek Soule said. “I don’t know if we mentally put it on cruise control, but I know we didn’t execute in terms of situational hitting and runners in scoring position.”
Greely struggled to capitalize on opportunities – many of which were generated by Neleski, who went 3 for 3. He led off the third inning with a double before getting stranded at third following a diving catch by the Yarmouth second baseman Jason Lainey, a groundout and a strikeout.
Neleski also led off the fifth with a double.
“I just thought about throwing strikes and getting ahead early in the count,” Morrill said. “I know I have good guys behind me who are going to make plays.”
Yarmouth scored in the bottom of the third when Ben Norton walked with the bases load.
Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or
tvortherms@pressherald.com
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