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Cards swing their hot bats and sink Merrimack, 10-2

By Tom King - Staff Writer | May 6, 2018

Staff photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin'sTaylor Proulx slides safely home ahead of a wide throw to Merrimack catcher Spenser Clark during the Cards' 10-2 win Saturday in Merrimack.

MERRIMACK – When it comes to the Bishop Guertin High School baseball team’s bat attack, it’s been either feast or famine this season.

The last couple of days, including Saturday’s 10-2 win over Merrimack, it’s been a feast.

The Cards pounded out 11 hits in back to back games. Friday’s were wasted, though, in a 17-10 loss to Bedford.

“It’s been nice,” Cards coach Scott Painter said. “Last few games we’ve been swinging them pretty good after being shut out by Exeter, shut out by Salem, and Timberlane came in an one-hit us.”

What’s changed?

“It’s just been approach,” Painter said. “Just trying to preach to the kids we can hit the fastball, and we’ve got to go away on off-speed stuff. That’s the stuff we’ve been working on all week in practice. The kids are doing a nice job.”

The Cards were led by DH Alex George, who went 4 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs. George had been slumping a bit, and the Cards moved him down from the third to fifth spot in the order, and Brett Anderson from two to three. “It’s been productive for us,” Painter said.

The Cards and Tomahawks were deadlocked 2-2 after three when Guertin got three in the fourth off Merrimack starter Jake Mainey to take the lead for good. George, who drove in a run in BG’s two-run first, had the big hit, an RBI double. Steve McClendon and Ryan Cote had RBI singles off Mainey.

“That’s a very good team over there, a very good offensive team,” Tomahawks coach Kyle Harvell said, his team falling to 2-10. “They swing the bats well, especially one through five, very good hitters, very dangerous hitters. We didn’t make a ton of mistakes today, but anytime we made one, they capitalized. That’s what a good high school team does.”

Guertin increased its lead with a pair in the sixth, one coming off a Taylor Proulx triple, and then added three more in the seventh off a tired Mainey, George getting his second RBI double of the day.

“It felt great, we did it off a real good pitcher (Friday) and then today we had to adjust to (Mainey),” George said. “Lot of curve balls, and we made the adjustment.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Hawks had seemed to adjust to BG’s complete game starter and winner, Noah Therrien, in the third when Mike Lyna blasted an RBI double and Jared Wells a run-scoring single. But Therrien only allowed one baserunner the rest of the way, needing just 87 pitches in total (six hitter), and now the Cards can line up their pitching for the upcoming week.

“Today there were parts of the game where we played very, very well,” Harvell said. “And it was just those couple of innings in the middle, high school games tend to turn in the fourth or fifth innings. We’re getting there.”

Meanwhile, the Cards have really hadn’t had these kind of bats in a while.

“This year,” George said, “we do.”

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