By RICH TORRES
WESTFIELD – For the second straight night, the Westfield Shamrocks struck first, and right on cue, the Avon Orioles responded, yet again.
The Shamrocks built an early 1-0 lead and sophomore Zach Zaborowski tossed a quality start, but the visiting Orioles charged back in top of the sixth and the bullpen nailed it down as Avon won 3-2 on Friday night.
Avon (12-7) also rallied from a 1-0 deficit on Thursday night en route to a 6-3 victory, and once more swung the momentum to clinch its three-game Hoosier Crossroads Conference series with Westfield. The series finale is scheduled for noon at Avon on Saturday.
“It’s very frustrating. We had a lot of opportunities to stay in this game even longer or maybe even come out with the win,” Westfield senior Logan McClurg remarked after the Shamrocks dropped to 8-9 overall. “We just didn’t execute when we needed to. It’s a tough loss.”
Avon’s back-to-back HCC wins further cements its spot at third in the standings, while Westfield now sits at .500 with a 7-7 conference record.
The series loss was only Westfield’s second this year after taking 2 of 3 from Zionsville, Hamilton Southeastern and Brownsburg.
“We just didn’t get the timely hit today,” Westfield head coach Ryan Bunnell said. “It’s the little things, but the little things make big things happen.”
McClurg supplied the Shamrock’s biggest hit, leading off the bottom of the first with a triple. Sam Eaton put the Shamrocks on top 1-0 with an RBI groundout, but the bats fell silent afterwards until the bottom of the sixth.
Avon starter Connor Madding, who picked up his first win of the season, retired 14 consecutive hitters after Westfield put two on base in the first, including a Zach Collins walk.
Madding’s 85-pitch performance kept the game close before the Orioles dialed in for their hurler with a three-run top of the sixth.
“He had good off-speed, not a lot of fastballs,” said McClurg, who finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored. “He came with the off-speed, which was throwing us off. He’s a good pitcher.”
Zaborowski nearly matched Madding, going five innings behind 77 pitches. The right-hander struck out three, walked three and was charged with two earned runs – both crossing in the sixth after being relieved.
Madding struck out four, walked one and was credited with both Westfield runs.
The Shamrocks sliced the Orioles’ lead 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth as McClurg scored from third base on a wild pitch by reliever Eric Ayler.
Westfield was in position to tie the game in the sixth after they chased Madding and drew a pair of walks with one out.
Zach Collins heightened the threat with a four-pitch walk and two outs, but Avon’s second of three relievers, Jake Lingle, shut down the Shamrocks with a clutch strikeout.
“We had to have to have a better at-bat there in the sixth with the runners at second and third and two outs,” Bunnell said. “Maybe it doesn’t go, but to go down on three pitches. We kind of looked at two and chased a bad one. We had to have a better at-bat there.”
Avon’s Nolan Nihiser, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, led off the top of the sixth with a single, and Braedon Payne was hit by a pitch before Zaborowski was lifted for Trey Anderson.
The Orioles advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt by Max Pfledderer, setting up Connor Albert’s game-tying two-run triple. Albert went 2-for-3.
“The Albert kid, we had him 0-2, and then we hung a breaking ball that should have been off the plate,” Bunnell said. “We just didn’t execute on some small things. Not a lot. We played a fairly clean game, but when you’re in tight games against good teams, you have to execute on the little things.”
Austin Baugh plated the decisive run with an RBI sacrifice bunt to bring home Albert before he halted Westfield’s late comeback attempt on the mound.
The Shamrocks loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh following a leadoff single by Anderson, a one-out walk by Kyle Pepiot and a two-out free pass by McClurg.
Baugh, however, slammed the door. The right-hander took over for Lingle, and posted a strikeout and a walk before inducing a game-ending fielder’s choice groundout.
McClurg led the Shamrocks with two walks. Zach Collins was 1-for-2 with a walk.
Westfield travels to Avon on Saturday and hosts Lapel on Tuesday before facing Class 4A No. 3 Fishers for their final HCC series beginning on Thursday at home.
“Hopefully, we can come up in those big opportunities or make those big plays we need for tomorrow to win that one,” McClurg said.
Avon 3, Westfield 2
Westfield AB R H RBI
Logan McClurg 2 2 1 0
Matthew Meyer 3 0 0 0
Sam Eaton 3 0 0 1
Zach Collins 2 0 1 0
Luke Hutson 0 0 0 0
Bryce Dorton 3 0 0 0
Trey Anderson 3 0 1 0
Eli Patchett 3 0 0 0
Kyle Pepiot 2 0 0 0
Payton Tamm 3 0 0 0
Totals 24 2 3 1
Score by innings
Avon 000 003 0 – 3 8 0
Westfield 100 001 0 – 2 3 1
3B: McClurg. SB: McClurg. SAC: Eaton.
Westfield pitching IP R ER H
Zach Zaborowski 5 2 2 5
Trey Anderson 2 1 1 3
Strikeouts: Zaborowski 3, Anderson 1. Walks: Zaborowski 2.