Friday afternoon, we traveled to Dodd Stadium in Norwich, CT, to play the University of CT at Avery Point. They are one of the best teams in New England and sported a 13-3 record, after a strong spring trip to Florida. We were hoping to beat the rain that was forecast and play nine innings of baseball. I told the team prior to the start of the game that any mistakes would be problematic, because UCAP was simply to good a team and physical and mental errors would be tough to overcome. I mentioned the formula of walks + errors less than five as a game plan to stay competitive. Tommy Protentis and Luke Nagle combined to hold the Pointers to four hits on the day and the defense was error free.

But even the best game plans can be impacted by something a simple as a lead-off walk. The lead-off batter for UCAP walked, stole second and scored on a single to left center and that was pretty much the game. The UCAP starter retired the first 14 Warrior hitters before Matt Levasseur drew a walk in the top of the fifth inning.  UCAP scored one more run in the fourth, once again the runner reaching on one of the two walks issued by Warrior pitching in the game.

Our offense was pretty much nonexistent, until the seventh inning, when Pat Murray was hit by a pitch, then stole second on a delay, He moved to third on a Joe Walsh single and scored on Luke Nagle’s sacrifice fly. That was it for the Warrior offense in terms of scoring on the day.  Luke came on in relief in the sixth inning and retired all nine batters that he faced. He has now hurled 10 consecutive scoreless inning on the season.

Two walks and no errors wasn’t enough to secure a win, as the Warriors only managed three hits on the day. I don’t believe in style points, but if the Warriors can continue to play this type of baseball, with a  bit more offense, we are going to be OK.

The weekend’s games have been postponed as Louis R. Colombo Field is still not playable and the weather outlook is not great for the next three days. From a weather standpoint this is beginning to look like a season that is going to be dramatically impacted in terms of how many games can actually be played. We are due to host the Bunker Hill Bulldogs on Tuesday, with Shane Holmes taking the mound for the Warriors.

Tom pitch five solid innings, allowing 4 hits and two earned runs.