Wolverines Baseball Pounded in Home Opener

Catcher Dave Connors reached base five times for Holliston, as the Panthers spoiled the Wolverines’ home opener, winning 12-6 at Downs Field in Westwood.

Connors, who batted seventh on Monday, finished 3-5 with two doubles and two RBI, and reached twice on errors.

“He was a pain in the neck at the plate,” said Westwood head coach Brian Whelan. “He’s a good hitter and he had some strong throws down to second as well.”

Connors threw out Westwood’s Sean Amaru at second, preventing what the Wolverines hoped to be a sixth inning rally.

Westwood trailed 5-4 after the first inning and tied the ballgame up at six in the second, but found themselves down 11-6 in the sixth inning after a Cato LaCroix long ball and a stellar relief appearance by Ben Levine.

Holliston head coach Keith Verra talked about how his seniors were able to be so effective.

“(Levine) throws three pitches and he has really good command of where they are going to go," Verra said. "He’s a kid that knows how to pitch; he’s not going to overwhelm you with his fastball, but his fastball is good if you don’t know when the changeup and curveball are coming. Cato is just a good solid hitter. They walked him the next time up and he’s in the number four spot for a reason.”

Levine picked up the win, pitching four innings in relief of starter Stephen Hennessey and didn’t allow a run. He gave up just three hits and struck out four Wolverine batters.

LaCroix finished 2-3 with three RBI.

As for Whelan’s Wolverines, despite the bats going cold, the real struggle was their pitching. Jake Indursky allowed five runs in the first, while Nick Henderson gave up four more in his 2 2/3 innings of work, and Brendan Skehill gave up the final three in 3 1/3 innings.

“It was just frustrating, we weren’t into it,” said Whelan. “It starts with pitching and Indursky just didn’t come out strong, Henderson stopped the bleeding and Skehill did the best he could to finish it off but it’s just really frustrating.”

Westwood drops to 1-1 with the loss and Holliston remains perfect at 3-0.