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04/23/2018 12:00 AMThe Westbrook baseball team has shown a penchant for dramatics this season by recording multiple come-from-behind victories and walk-off wins. Last week, the Knights defeated Portland 6-5 in extra innings, earned a 6-5 walk-off victory versus East Hampton, and then notched a less-stressful 10-run win against Creed-Hillhouse. With his club at 5-3, Head Coach Derek Hanssen wants to see Westbrook ride this momentum and secure a playoff berth in the coming weeks.
Hanssen and his coaching staff set a goal for Westbrook to win all three of its games last week. It was an ambitious goal, but Coach Hanssen was proud to see the Knights take that challenge to heart and then respond.
“We set the goal to sweep the week, and the guys picked up and ran with that,” Coach Hanssen. “It was a really great feeling to get the three wins in a row.”
Westbrook’s week began with road game versus Portland on April 17. Portland took an early lead by scoring three runs, before the Knights got on the board. In the top of the fifth inning, Westbrook tied the game with consecutive doubles from junior David McCain and senior captain Jack Hayes. Senior Jake Marciniec singled to put runners on the corners, after which junior Cameron Marshall hit the third double of the inning to drive in two more.
After scoring two more runs in the top of the sixth, the Knights were up 5-3. Portland added a run in the bottom of the sixth and then tied it in the seventh to send the game to extra frames. In the top of the eighth, junior Quinn Ernst singled, and then McCain struck again with a line shot to right field that brought home Ernst with the go-ahead run with two outs for the 6-5 win.
Coach Hanssen has been impressed with McCain, who was 4-for-5 with two big RBI in the win over the Highlanders. Hanssen has McCain batting second and said that he’s been hitting the ball well lately.
“He’s had a couple of great games,” Hanssen said. “He’s hitting in the two hole for us, and he’s been a hot hitter for us recently.”
Hayes also had a strong showing against Portland by collecting three hits with a run and two RBI. Coach Hanssen relies on Hayes to get it done at the dish and in the outfield, but he added that the captain also gets it done on the mound when the game is on the line.
“He’s a center fielder and a relief pitcher. He’s got two wins and a save--all in relief,” said Hanssen. “He’s been in there at the right times in the big moments. He’s our de facto closer right now.”
Westbrook’s pitching staff features some depth this year. One of the go-to pitchers on the staff is senior captain Jason Cordon. Hanssen feels confident giving Cordon or any of his starters the ball and says that running four deep can help Westbrook deal with the compressed scheduling that inevitably occurs during the spring.
“Jason Cordon, he’s been a starter. He’s started two games for us this year. We have four guys that can start games with Cordon, Cameron Marshall, Connor Cruz, and Kyle Robison, but we’re still trying to figure out what our rotation is going to be, come the end of the year,” said Hanssen. “Having four guys is huge with the weather to start the year. You never know when you’re going to have to play a four-game week.”
The day after beating Portland, the Knights pulled off another high-wire act by defeating East Hampton at home. Westbrook surrendered a four-run lead to East Hampton, which scored two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to go up 5-4. However, the Knights still had their last chance in the bottom half of the seventh. McCain singled, followed by a Hayes single, and then junior Kyle Robison worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out. After that, Marinciec came up and hit a single to center field that gave the Knights the 6-5, walk-off victory.
It was nothing new for Marciniec to step up to the plate in a big spot, and Coach Hanssen was pleased to see the senior come through clutch once again.
“He actually has two of our walk-off hits,” said Hanssen. “He had the hit to beat East Hampton the other day. He had a home run to beat Griswold. He’s kind of been up in the right spot.”
The Knights displayed their never-give-up attitude when they came back from an 8-1 deficit to defeat Griswold 9-8 in the season opener. Coach Hanssen believes that win set up Westbrook’s subsequent white-knuckle victories, although he’d be fine with less theatrics from his squad.
“I think starting from the first game of the season against Griswold, it gave the team so much confidence out of the gate,” he said. “Now as a coach, they make me nervous. I’d like to get some wins by more than a run. We got that win against Creed this week, but just a two- or three-run cushion would be nice, too.”
Westbrook closed out the week with a 15-5 win over Creed-Hillhouse on April 20. Westbrook received big games from Robison (3 hits, 3 RBI, 2 runs), Hayes (3 hits, 2 RBI, 1 run), McCain (2 hits, 2 RBI, 3 runs), and Connor Cruz (2 hits, 1 RBI, 3 runs) in the victory. Robison pitched four innings and struck out eight in the non-conference win.
Last season, Westbrook went 5-15 and came up three games shy of making states with a pretty inexperienced squad. Coach Hanssen believes that last year’s tribulations had a direct effect on the maturity and toughness of the 2018 Knights.
“A lot of these guys played a lot last year as sophomores, and we kind of took our lumps,” said Hanssen. “Although we struggled last year, they got a lot of valuable experience going into this season.
Even with the recent three-game win streak, Coach Hanssen believes the Knights are still trending upward in terms of what they can accomplish this year. He knows that the team is still learning, but as long as his athletes stay confident and on task, Hanssen feels that Westbrook can accomplish a lot the rest of the way.
“We’re still getting better,” Hanssen said. “I think this team can be even better than they are now. They are starting to figure that out now.”
From the Sidelines
The Westbrook baseball team’s varsity roster consists of senior captains Jason Cordon and Jack Hayes, fellow senior Jake Marciniec; juniors Connor Cruz, Quinn Ernst, Tavish Ernst, Cameron Marshall, David McCain, Daniel Perreault, and Kyle Robison; and sophomores Jack Farrell and Brandon Jacques.
Head Coach Derek Hanssen’s coaching staff includes assistant coach Patrick Hanssen and JV Head Coach Angelo Saba.
Still to come this season, the Knights have two games against Hale-Ray and Old Lyme, as well one apiece versus fellow Shoreline Conference opponents Valley Regional, Haddam-Killingworth, Creed-Hillhouse, Portland, East Hampton, and Old Saybrook. Westbrook also has an out-of-conference contest against Stafford.