Windham Drops Preseason Games by David Field

Photo by David Field

Cumberland-On an extremely cold and blustery day, Windham dropped to Greely 6-5 and 8-7.  As with most preseason games, the win or loss is not really meaningful.  It is about seeing players in game situations and how they react.  “We learned a lot” said Varsity Coach Brody Artes.

In game one, Windham started offensively well with Spencer Hodge and Jack Herzig getting on base.  Calvin Field advanced them but the remaining line up couldn’t put Hodge and Herzig across the plate.

Shawn Francoeur started the pitching and went three scoreless innings for the Eagles.  In the fourth, Greely’s pitching started to suffer as three walked batters reached base.  Calvin Field hit a single and drove all three runs in as the Greely defense seemed to collapse and Field reached third on the exchange from center field.  Joe Francoeur batted Field in to give Windham the short-lived 4-0 lead.

Greely got started when it took advantage of a cold Spencer Hodge.  Hodge walked his first two batters and then gave up a single that drove in a Ranger run.  That was all Greely would muster until the sixth inning.

In the fifth, Spencer Hodge reached base on an error and managed to score on a passed ball to complete the Eagle offensive threat.  Eli Williams took the mound and gave up two runs and Jack Herzig came in to close the game in the seventh.  Despite throwing great fast balls, the Rangers quickly picked up on his delivery and quickly put the ball in play several times to take the lead.  Herzig completed his inning by striking out the final batter. 

In game two, the two teams battled hypothermia and numb hands in their competition.  In the first inning, Jake Mello and Calvin Field crossed the plate to give the Eagles a quick lead.  Four Eagles had hits in the first inning.  The Rangers answered with one run but stranded three on base.  In the second, they answered with four runs to answer Windham’s one run to tie the game.  

Windham answered forcefully in the fourth inning when Shawn Francoeur crushed a home run over the centerfield fence to put three on the board.  The Rangers answered with one in the fourth and one in the sixth.  Both teams substituted frequently to keep players warm and to give younger players some action.  

Windham faced Oxford Hills this Thursday.  We will have coverage of that in next week’s editon.