Point for the Kids!: Donovan delivers, as Amesbury's Arsenault brothers beat father and Whittier

Apr. 23—AMESBURY — It wasn't the perfect inning that Luke Arsenault envisioned himself throwing, but to be fair, he did have a bit of an excuse.

Late Saturday morning, the junior came on in relief in the top of the seventh and was asked to close the door with Amesbury leading Whittier, 5-1. He even had the added bonus of throwing to his younger brother, Will, a sophomore who is the team's catcher. And there probably aren't too many brother-to-brother, pitcher and catcher combos in the state.

But standing a few feet away, right next to third base, was their father, Peter Arsenault, who just took over as varsity baseball coach at Whittier this spring.

Maybe it was the nerves of having his father right there as the coach of the opposing team?

Maybe he wanted to help Dad and his team out (highly unlikely!)?

Maybe he wanted to give Dad some hope before ultimately crushing it (more likely)?

But after four of the first five Whittier batters recorded hits — followed by a wild pitch — it was suddenly a 5-4 game with a runner on third and only one out. Amesbury, which had led since the first inning, was on the brink of collapse. However, Arsenault remained unfazed. After the wild pitch, he came back to strike out the final two batters of the game on power fastballs, as Amesbury held on for what quickly turned into a heart-racing 5-4 final.

"It was a little weird because he always coached me and Will while we were growing up," said Luke. "But all I care about is winning, so it was especially good to get this one.

"It wasn't my best inning, but I was just trying to throw it past them because I knew they were a little late on their swings. And it was getting lower and lower in the order, so I felt good that I could strike them out."

So in the end, there was plenty of drama.

But for the first six innings, starter Aiden Donovan kept things moving comfortbaly for Amesbury (6-1). Making just his second career varsity start, the sophomore allowed just one earned run on six hits with seven strikeouts over his six innings of work to pick up his second win. After getting out of a bases loaded, two-out jam in the first, he sat down 10 of the next 12 batters he faced — which included striking out the side in the third — before allowing his one earned run in the fifth.

"It felt good," said Donovan. "The first inning was a little shaky, but I got my feel in the second inning and started throwing a lot of fastballs. And then in the third inning they started to get on it, so I had to start working on my slider. I've always been pretty good at progressively getting better during the game. I usually do feel better and start to throw harder and put more effort into my throws as I go on, which is something I need to work on because I should be able to do it in the first inning, too."

And Donovan also made sure to help himself at the plate.

Leadoff man Jake Harring got things started with a double in Amesbury's first at-bat of the game, and after Shea Cucinotta singled runners were at the corners for Drew Scialdone. The sophomore laced a single to left to score Harring, and after Trevor Kimball advanced the runners to second and third, Donovan stepped into the box and blooped a single to center that plated a pair and made it 3-0 after the first inning.

From there, Donovan did his thing on the mound.

He allowed a run in the top of the fifth, but Amesbury immediately got it back in the bottom half of the inning when Harring walked and later scored on a wild pitch. Donovan then led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and courtesy runner Matt Anderson would score what ended up being a crucial run on another wild pitch.

With returning Daily News All-Star and top pitcher Drew MacDonald out for six weeks with a shoulder strain, Amesbury is going to need Donovan to continue to produce quality starts.

"He's stepped up as a sophomore with losing Drew," said Amesbury coach Joel Bierley. "It's his second varsity start and his second varsity win in a row. He just doesn't get rattled. He comes out, pitches like an upperclassmen, attacks the strike zone and uses the defense behind him."

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Amesbury 5, Whittier 4

Whittier (4): Manny Cepeda cf 4-1-1, Brendan Dodier p 4-1-2, Ben Hadley 3b/p 3-0-1, Jake Richards 1b 4-1-2, David Garcia rf 3-1-1, Nate Deitenhofer c 4-0-2, Will Hallaran lf 3-0-0, Brendan Lynch ss 2-0-0, Thomas Galvin ph 1-0-0, Daniel Knowlton 2b 3-0-1. Totals 31-4-10

Amesbury (5): Jake Harring 2b 3-2-1, Shea Cucinotta ss 3-1-2, Drew Scialdone rf 3-1-1, Trevor Kimball lf 3-0-0, Aiden Donovan p/3b 3-0-2, Matt Anderson pr 0-1-0, Luke Arsenault 3b/p 3-0-0, Will Arsenault c 3-0-1, Cam Stanley cf 2-0-0, Brady Burnham 1b 2-0-0. Totals 25-5-7

RBI: A — Donovan 2, Scialdone; W — Hadley, Richards, Deitenhofer

WP: Donovan; LP: Dodier

Whittier: 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 — 4

Amesbury (6-1): 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 — 5