Exeter's Roger Davis draws walk-off walk as Blue Hawks rally past rival Winnacunnet
EXETER - As Exeter High School baseball head coach Bruce Joyce said following Friday's game with Winnacunnet, "it's another chapter in the book."
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"We've had some unbelievable games with (Winnacunnet)," Joyce added. "It's fun, it's a game we look forward to every year. The kids are jacked up about it on both sides, I'm sure. It's funny no matter how your season is going, you could be going well or it could be going not so well, but this game is always a rock fight, it's a great rivalry."
The greatness of the rivalry between two foes who have great respect for each other continued as the game came down to the final pitch, literally.
In the bottom of the seventh inning in a 3-3 stalemate, Exeter had the bases loaded with one out and Roger Davis at the plate. Davis could end the game, pass the baton to George Young who was on deck or the Warriors could get out of the inning unscathed and head to extra innings.
After leadoff hitter Hayden Schimoler flew out to right field to begin the seventh, Mike Caron singled to left and Ryan Morgado and Cam Keaveney walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Davis.
Davis found himself in a 3-2 count, and then saw ball four to give Exeter a walk-off walk for the win as Caron crossed the plate for a Blue Hawks' 4-3 win. Exeter improved to 9-2, while Winnacunnet fell to 8-3.
"(Timmy Knight) had just thrown four balls in a row (to Keaveney), so I was thinking basically see a strike, and just battle with him and try to hit it hard somewhere in the air or in the infield, it didn't really matter," Davis explained. "I was just trying to put the bat on the ball. I got lucky with a few balls in a row and it is what it is."
Davis said when the count reached 3-2, he was ready for "anything close."
"I fouled one off there to protect the plate a little bit, but anything close I was going after and I was going to try to hit it hard," Davis said. "It's such a great way to win (the game). It's what everybody dreams about. It was a good battle. So happy to come away with that walk."
On drawing the walk, Joyce said "that's Roger."
"Those are his kinds of at-bats," Joyce said. "He walks a lot and just has a knack for getting on base. It worked out at the end there where he was able to draw the walk and give us the win."
Teams alternate leads late in game
Exeter scored two runs in the fifth off Winnacunnet starter Jason Pinsonnault and took its first lead of the game, 3-2.
Ryan Morgado's groundout to third scored Hayden Schimoler with the game-tying run. With Mike Caron at third base with two outs, Cam Keaveney hit a ground ball to third baseman Jake Fredericks, whose throw eluded first baseman Evan Gaffney, allowing Caron to score. Pinsonnault then struck out Davis, ending the inning.
The Warriors answered right back in the sixth. Patrick Desmond and Timmy Knight both singled with two outs off Schimoler, in relief of starter Cam Piwnicki. Schimoler got the first two outs of the inning on three pitches.
Then Nowak hit an infield single to second base, and as Morgado backhanded the grounder, he stumbled and made an error on a throw home as Desmond scored on the play, tying the game at 3-3.
Davis was 2-for-3 with a RBI and walk on the day, and Caron was 2-for-4. Schimoler, Keaveney and George Young all had one hit for Exeter.
Schimoler earned the win, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two. Piwnicki went five innings, scattered six hits, struck out five and allowed two unearned runs.
"I thought it was a great team win, we all worked together," Schimoler said. "Obviously, this is one that, at the beginning of the season, it's the one you circle; it was really big for us to close it out."
Jackson Larck and Desmond each had two hits to lead Winnacunnet, while Nowak, Miles Pratt, Fredericks, Brady Thompson and Knight all had one.
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"It was a great battle like you would expect," Winnacunnet head coach Aaron Abood said. "Winnacunnet and Exeter, both teams have a bunch of good players on the field. They all know each other; great battle. Both teams battled hard, and Exeter scored the last run."
Pinsonnault allowed two earned runs on six hits and struck out five over five innings. Knight pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowed one earned run on one hit, struck out two and walked four.
The Warriors scored a run in each of the first two innings. Pratt scored on a throwing error on a Finn Adams' throw to third in the first, and Desmond's RBI single to left scored Gaffney in the second.
Exeter's first run came in the fourth inning on an RBI single from George Young to right, scoring Keaveney.
"It was a good game, we just came up short at the end," Fredericks said. "Tough battle and definitely a learning experience for us. I think it can nothing but benefit us for the future."
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter baseball rallies past rival Winnacunnet in NHIAA D1 game
