MORSE CATCHER Asa Hodgdon, left, tags out Brunswick’s Noah Goddard at the plate in the third inning of Thursday’s KVAC baseball game at Brunswick. The visiting Shipbuilders came away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory in eight innings. BOB CONN / THE TIMES RECORD
BRUNSWICK
Morse High School baseball player Tom Warren admitted that he has had a tough season at the plate.
However, it sure didn’t seem like it on Thursday as Warren reached base in all four of his at-bats against Brunswick, stole five bases and scored the winning run in the Shipbuilders’ 4-3 eight-inning victory over the Dragons.
Warren walked, stole second and third, and trotted home on an RBI single by Asa Hodgdon in the second inning, walked and stole third base in the fourth, singled in a run to give Morse a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, and walked, stole second and hustled home on a go-ahead RBI single, again by Hodgdon, in the eighth.
“To come out against Brunswick today feels really good,” said Warren. “It was good to get this win. At the end, it was eight innings of back-and-forth play.”
“It was nice to be on the right side of a one-run game today,” said Morse coach Garrett Olson, whose Shipbuilders improved to 6-9 and host Lincoln Academy on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
MORSE BASERUNNER Tom Warren hustles into third base with a stolen base as Brunswick third baseman Zach Grant awaits the throw. Warren stole five bases in his team’s 4-3 victory. BOB CONN / THE TIMES RECORD
In a close game throughout, both teams squandered scoring chances in the first seven innings. Brunswick, having been shut out in its previous three games, tied the game twice and had a chance to deadlock the contest again in the eighth. With runners on the corners and one out, Noah Goddard lined a rocket up the middle that Morse pitcher Asa Hodgdon snared for a gameending double play.
“We wanted to make sure on our Senior Day that they all had their turns to play, and this was a good team game for us,” said Brunswick (3-12) coach Craig Rogers, whose Dragons visit Mt. Ararat on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. “We had our opportunities, and so did they. It came down to a hardhit ball that was turned into a double play.”
Left on base
The Shipbuilders came out strong against Goddard in the first inning, opening with consecutive singles by Hodgdon, Austin Magliozzi and Jackson Walker to load the bases with nobody out. However, Goddard escaped, retiring the next three Morse hitters to keep the visitors off the board.
BRUNSWICK’S SAM SHARPE collides with Morse shortstop Austin Magliozzi in early-inning action at Brunswick on Thursday. Sharpe was safe on the play. BOB CONN / THE TIMES RECORD
Morse claimed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Hodgdon’s RBI single. The lead might have been greater if not for the Shipbuilders continued struggles of hitting with runners in scoring position. Morse left nine runners on base in the first four frames.
“We have left a lot of guys on base this year (11 on Thursday), and that has been a problem. We struggle with guys on third base with less than two outs, and with guys in scoring position,” Olson said.
Brunswick ended its scoreless run in the third, taking advantage of four Morse errors as Kyle Labbe scored to tie the game.
“With the offensive production that we have had, we never really feel comfortable, and we know that we really have to work at it to score runs,” said Rogers.
Morse captured a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Isaiah Cogswell singled and later scored on a two-out single by Warren.
But, Brunswick answered in the home half of the fifth. Labbe and Henry Burnham (2-for-2) singled, and Labbe scored on a Morse throwing error.
The game stayed tied through seven innings. The Dragons had the best chance to end it, leaving the bases loaded in the sixth.
In the eighth, Warren walked against Brunswick reliever Dalton Dickey. Sam Sharpe relieved and after a strikeout and a Warren stolen base, Hodgdon dropped a single into shallow right field, with Warren easily scoring. A passed ball brought Hodgdon to the plate for a 4-2 Shipbuilders lead.
“We haven’t been scoring a lot of runs, and I have a mix of hitters that I can move around,” said Olson. “Tommy hitting eighth, he is a great hitter and provides us with a solid bottom of the order guy that sets the table for the top of the order.”
Brunswick answered in the bottom of the eighth. Kyle Hanson reached on an infield single, moving Scout Masse to second with one out. Kam Labbe singled just inside the first-base bag, with Masse scoring and Hanson hustling to third. But, Hodgdon, who earned the win in relief of Cogswell (five innings, two strikeouts, one walk, three hits), ended things with his snare of Goddard’s line drive.
Hodgdon went the final three innings, striking out three, walking four and permitting four hits. Hodgdon was also 3-for-4 at the plate.
Goddard threw 90 pitches over five frames. He allowed eight hits, walked three and struck out six. Dickey went two innings with two walks, while Sharpe tossed one frame with two strikeouts.
Morse 4, Brunswick 3
At Brunswick
Morse — 010 010 02 — 4-9-5
Brunswick — 001 010 01 — 3-7-2
Isaiah Cogswell, Asa Hodgdon (6)
and Asa Hodgdon, Isaiah Cogswell
(6); Noah Goddard, Dalton Dickey
(6), Sam Sharpe (8) and Scout
Masse.
WP — Hodgdon; LP — Dickey.
Repeat hitters — (Mo) Asa Hodgdon
(3); (B) Henry Burnham.
Records — Morse 6-9, Brunswick 3-
12.
Up next for the Shipbuilders —
Tuesday at home vs. Lincoln Academy, 4 p.m.
Up next for the Dragons — Tuesday
at Mt. Ararat, 4:15 p.m.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
