NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The North Adams SteepleCats jumped out to an early lead on Independence Day, and held on to defeat the Valley Blue Sox, 5-4, in North Adams.

 

The Joe Wolfe Field premises were packed with 4,623 fans, which made for an electrifying atmosphere before the night sky was lit up with Fourth of July fireworks.

 

North Adams never trailed in the contest, and took their initial lead in the bottom of the first inning. Eddie Haus (St. Mary's) led off the inning with a single, but was put out at second on a fielder's choice from Joe Gillette (Menlo College). With two outs, Dillon Paulson smoked a double to right center field, scoring Gillette from first and opening the scoring.

 

The biggest inning for the 'Cats came in the bottom of the second. Jonathan Engelmann (Michigan) started the action by clubbing a one-out double. They then loaded the bases after a walk to Hunter Beetley (Eastern Illinois) and Curtis Godin (UCLA) getting hit by a pitch. Haus drove in the second North Adams run with a single, which left the bases loaded. Michael Gulino (Pace) made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Gillette drove in the final run of the frame with a single that plated Godin.

 

Ryan Tapp (UNC-Asheville) held up the four-run lead, as the second-year SteepleCat starter worked five scoreless innings to pick up his first win of the season. Tapp struck out four hitters with just one walk, and allowed only three hits to a potent Valley offense.

 

Valley clawed back into the game with three runs in the sixth inning. Two singles and a walk allowed the Blue Sox to load the bases with one out. Nate Soria (Xavier) drove in a run with a single, and a second run came home on a North Adams error. Joe Mercadante's (LIU Brooklyn) sacrifice fly to right made it a one-run game, but Braxton Wilks (Abilene Christian) got the third out on a strikeout to keep the lead intact.

 

The SteepleCats pushed across an insurance run, which proved to be critical, in the bottom half of the frame. Engelmann was on first with two outs when Godin lined a pitch to left that bounced all the way to the wall for an RBI triple. Godin's first hit of the season extended the North Adams lead to 5-3.

 

An RBI single by Chas Hadden (Belmont) pushed the Blue Sox back within a run in the top of the seventh, but the SteepleCats shut down the Blue Sox from there. Garvin Alston, Jr. (Arizona State) worked a scoreless eighth with an assist from Jake Ackerman (Mission College), who caught a runner stealing second. TJ Pagan (Pittsburgh) then put up a zero in the ninth for his fourth save of the season.

 

Having snapped a two-game losing streak, the SteepleCats are back at home on Wednesday for another divisional matchup, this time against the Keene Swamp Bats. The game, the second in a series of six consecutive home games, will feature Matt McGarry (Vanderbilt) on the mound for North Adams.