BY MATT STOUT

Sitting atop the Class M standings with a 13-0 record entering Wednesday, May 23, the Hopkinton baseball team realizes no victories will simply be handed to it this season.

Well, almost none.

The Hawks’ 1-1, 10-inning forfeit victory over 5-7 Winnisquam on Monday, May 21, wasn’t the end either coach imagined for the epic showdown, nor is it the way Hopkinton wants to remain undefeated.

But despite the abrupt ending – after Winnisquam pitcher Corey Gilmore pitched into the 10th inning, Hopkinton coach Dave Chase alerted umpires of a rule violation, as no pitcher can throw more than nine – there was a lot of good to be taken out of the two-and-a-half hour struggle.

“These are all the things we worked on (in practice on Sunday),” said Hopkinton coach Dave Chase.

“All the stuff here – bunt coverages, pitch-outs. Because it’s going to come down to small-ball, and whoever has the better pitching staff is going to win the game. This year especially, you’re going to see a lot of close games. I don’t think you’re going to see people pounding the ball, 10-0.”

Monday’s contest gave Hopkinton a chance to utilize situational plays they’ll most likely see come state tournament time.

With both teams scrapping for every scoring opportunity, Hopkinton finally figured out Gilmore, the Bears’ top pitcher, in the sixth inning when Tom Johnson laid down a bunt single to score Jon Reen.

After Winnisquam tied it in the seventh to force extra frames – spoiling the complete-game shutout for Reen, who struck out six – Hopkinton worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth thanks to some fine strategy.

Reliever Jake McManus induced a grounder to the right side that David Brandt fielded and threw home for the force-out, setting up a one-out bunt-squeeze attempt by the Bears.

But Chase read it from the start, calling for a pitch-out with two strikes that McManus and catcher Nick Babson executed perfectly. The ball outside, the Winnisquam batter flailed at a missed bunt and Babson ran up the third base line to easily tag the advancing runner, ending the inning.

With the game ending in such anticlimactic fashion, it’s probably the lone bit of momentum Hopkinton can pull from Monday, but they’ll have several chances to keep rolling with three games in three days, starting with Wednesday’s contest at Newport.

But more importantly, the “win” over Winnisquam, a team that took down previously undefeated Prospect Mountain earlier this spring, was a testament to the defining points of a contender: poise, pitching and, perhaps, a little luck.

Chase actually called for the pitch-out on the prior delivery, but his team missed the sign.

“Besides, they’re not 13-0 now for nothing,” said Winnisquam coach Fred Caruso, who was searching for the innings-limit rule throughout the final two innings but couldn’t find it in time, and told his team the loss was “100 percent on me.”

“They’re the best team in Class M,” he continued. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re deeper (than a team like Prospect Mountain).”

Notes

Though Chase was sure the rule stated no pitcher can throw one pitch into the 10th, he waited until Gilmore – who struck out nine and threw approximately 115 pitches, Caruso said – recorded the first out in the frame before going to the umpires.

Johnson finished 3-for-4 with Hopkinton’s lone RBI, while McManus threw two scoreless innings in relief of Reen.

Those two hurlers, combined with Matt Story and David Brandt, who’s nursing what Chase described as a knot in his throwing arm, make up a staff that has shut out four opponents and allowed more than four runs just once this season.