Ludlowe Defeats Baseball in States’ First Round

-By: Dan Pidgeon-

A rain delay proved to the advantage of the Ludlowe Falcons at States on Wednesday. (6/2) The Blue Wave was defeated bringing an end to its baseball season. The game still looked winnable in the bottom of the second inning with Ludlowe up to bat and a runner on first base. Senior Ricky Hodges stayed on the mound for the Blue Wave, and got into some trouble. The Falcons ended up scoring two runs in the bottom of the second to make the score 3-0 in its favor. The Falcons pitched a different player from the day before, and it took the Blue Wave a little to adjust. Hodges was lights out after the first two innings (including Tuesday (6/1)). He did not let another runner cross the plate after the first inning and held the FCIAC Champions Ludlowe Falcons to three runs in five innings of work. In the top of sixth inning, with just six outs left, the Blue Wave got a big rally going after the first two batters of the inning, seniors Mike Wohlberg and Tommy Blankemeier, got hit by a pitch. Senior Matt Anderson popped up and then senior John Gardner came up to the plate and hit a double in the left center field gap to score Wohlberg and Blankemeier. Senior Brandon Tripodi came up to the plate and hit a line drive into right center to advance pinch runner junior Tommy Farren to third. Tripodi stole second and senior Scott Dempsey hit a ground ball to score Farren to make it a tie game. Junior Dan Pidgeon hit a line drive into centerfield that got passed the diving Falcon for a triple and scored Brandon Tripodi to take the lead 4-3. The inning ended with the next batter and senior David Hickey took the mound for the Blue Wave in relief. On the first pitch of the inning, the Marist-bound Falcons catcher hit a long fly ball that landed on the other side of the fence to tie the game. After some back to back hits and an error on a pickoff, the Falcons scored three more runs in the inning to make the score 7-4 heading into the top of the seventh and the last three outs for the Blue Wave. The Blue Wave went down in order to the Ludlowe reliever. The Blue Wave finishes their season with an 8-13 record. Congratulations on a great season.