PLAISTOW — After a strong day at the plate on Tuesday, Pinkerton coach Ron Manseau figured he'd move Zach Mathieu up in the lineup as an attaboy.
Mathieu seemed to relish his new role.
The only thing that kept the 6-foot-6 sophomore's two-run triple from being a three-run shot was the lack of a fence in right field at Timberlane.
"It was the hardest hit ball for us this year, especially to the opposite field," Manseau said. "We've hit the ball pretty hard, but this was to the opposite field. That was a shot.
"I guess when you've got a body that looks like that, you should be able to hit it hard everywhere," he added with a laugh.
Mathieu drove in three runs in all and Pinkerton got a strong effort from starter Nick Gregsak to cruise to a 6-2 win.
"We needed a rebound after (Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Memorial)," Manseau said. "We didn't play well in Manchester and we came half asleep. We had a little talk after that game about the approach we had to take for this game and, in looking at the standings now, in my opinion we needed to win. Otherwise we could have dropped down in the standings pretty far. There are teams that are with us right now that have the same record and beat us. This was an important win."
With the team trying to get into playoff mode a little early, every Astro that reached first seemed aggressive on the basepaths. In the first inning, Gregsak stretched a lead-off single into a stolen base, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an error. The Astros were also able to advance the runners on Timberlane's numerous passed balls.
"I thought we ran the bases really well today," Manseau said. "We've been working on running the bases, we've been working on being aggressive and taking advantage of people's mistakes and we were able to capitalize on that stuff."
Mathieu's bomb in the third broke open what was a 2-0 game, plating Joe Guidi and Pat Curry.
"Honestly it was (a 2-0 count), and I was like, 'If I pop this up, I'm dead because it's 2-0,' but I just swung through it, trusted my hands, and put it to the opposite field," said Mathieu.
While his team collected nine hits, Gregsak produced on the mound, scattering six hits over six innings and fanning three. Though he also allowed five walks, he had a solid groundball-to-flyball out ratio (eight groundouts, including a 4-6-3 double play, to six flyouts).
"I had great defense behind me," he said.
In the seventh, Bill Dodge came on in relief of Gregsak, who made the decision to pull himself. Dodge shut the door, with a strikeout and two groundouts wrapped around a single.
While Gregsak acknowledged that sometimes Pinkerton struggles against teams it should beat, Manseau said a game like this was a positive step with the playoffs looming. It certainly sets a tone for the final week of the season.
"If we can continue to do this, we'll be all excited," he said. "If it continues, that's great."
Pinkerton 6, Timberlane 2
Pinkerton (6): Nick Gregsak p/cf 4-1-1, Doug Schultz ss 4-0-0, Joe Guidi 3b 4-2-2, Pat Curry c 4-1-1, Zach Mathieu 1b 2-1-1, Tyler Pacheco 2b 3-1-2, Bill Dodge dh/p 3-0-0, Brandon Bell cf/rf 2-0-1, Jason Carace lf 3-0-1, Bryce Calvetti rf 0-0-0; Totals 27-6-9
Timberlane (2): Zach Fox lf 4-0-0, Mike Donovan cf 3-1-2, Pat Hamilton 2b 2-1-1, Nick Moscioli ss 4-0-1, Cam Fagan 3b 4-0-0, Matt Sheehan c 3-0-2, P.J. Singster p 2-0-0, Brian Toohey rf 3-0-1, Jeff Disalvo 1-0-0, Dan Trabaglini lf 1-0-0; Totals 27-2-7
Pinkerton (9-6): 113 010 0 — 6
Timberlane (7-9): 002 000 0 — 2
RBI: P — Mathieu 3, Pacheco, Bell; T — Moscioli 2
WP: Gregsak; LP: Singster
