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Sports

Cate Leads Indians to Fourth Straight Win

MHS's Jeff Cate's gets half his team's hits, drives in four runs in 5-3 victory at Windsor, spoiling four-hitter by Warriors' ace.

Myles Spencer raced back and slightly to his right to catch a hump-back line drive with the tying runners on base to snuff a Windsor rally in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday afternoon, protecting Manchester’s 5-3 victory and the Indians fourth straight at the start of the season.

Windsor's Albert Nunes had singled to center field with the bases loaded and two outs to knock in two runs off Manchester starter Max Dougan to make it 5-3. But Dougan improved to 2-0 when he got Mike Cookson for the final out to Spencer. Nolan Cardwell was warming up when Dougan closed the door at Windsor in the CCC North opener for both teams.

The Warriors (1-2) had tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. But Manchester (4-0) took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, breaking up the no-hit bid by Windsor starter Devin Over, when Jeff Cate’s two-out single drove in Matt Webber, who had led off the inning with a single to right field. Cate delivered a bases-loaded single to center field off reliever Brian Mazella to give Manchester a 4-1 lead in the top of the seventh. Mike Spencer’s sacrifice fly made it 5-1.

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“I was helped out by guys getting on base for me,” said Cate (2-for-4), who drove in Manchester’s first four runs. “I was trying to find my pitch and drive it. My first hit was a curveball, low and over the middle of the plate. The second one was a fastball outside.

“I hope we can keep it rolling and stay hot,” Cate said. “We’re pitching, hitting and fielding. We’ve gotten it all done so far.”

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Add manufacturing runs without booming hits to the list of Manchester’s accomplishments. The Indians opened a 1-0 lead off UConn-bound Over in the first inning without the benefit of a base hit. An error and passed ball, after Over struck out Sean Corcoran leading off, left Travis Mistretta on third base and Cate’s ground out to second baseman Aaron Beradino allowed Mistretta to reach home.

Dougan, who threw a nine-strikeout no-hitter against Hall on Opening Day April 6, struck out Alex Laura to start the bottom of the third inning. Jay Nunes and Over each followed with singles to center field and after a balk advanced them to second and third Wes Hurty drove in Jay Nunes with a sacrifice fly.

The rest of the game belonged to Over and Dougan, a junior. A radar gun belonging to a college scout recorded Over’s velocity at 88 miles per hour and Dougan, who was faster in the no-hitter, at 85 mph.

Dougan walked six Hall batters in his first outing of the season, but issued his only walk during Windsor’s seventh-inning rally. He struck out eight Windsor batters and allowed eight hits. The key to his success on Thursday, Manchester coach Marc DiDominzio said, was his ability to throw first-pitch strikes.

“They had a couple of off-the-end-of-the-bat hits and a few off the fists,” DiDominzio said. “He got ahead of a lot of hitters. He put the pressure on them, so they had to hit a pitcher’s pitch and not a hitter’s pitch. He got them defensive. Cutting down on the walks was a big improvement. Any time you can limit how many base runners they have that’s a help to you. He was able to pump the strike zone.”

Windsor coach Joe Serfass said Dougan was “absolutely fantastic.” But he was no less impressed with Over, making his first start of the season after not pitching for a week-and-a-half because of tightness in his shoulder.

“He was great; he’s got a bright future,” Serfass said. “I thought he pounded the [strike] zone. He mixed his fastball and slider. He only made one mistake and that was the 0-1 breaking ball that Jeff Cate hit in the hole [in the fifth inning].”

Serfass relieved Over once he reached 105 pitches, close to Serfass’s target pitch count for Over, and after hitting Webber with a pitch. Over, who struck out the side in the second inning, finished with seven strikeouts, four walks and four hits in six innings plus a batter in the seventh.

The day started with Windsor scheduled to play at Bristol Central and Manchester off. Bristol Central postponed the game in the morning because of water in the outfield. The athletic directors at Windsor and Manchester scrambled to arrange the game by midday.

Windsor leaves Saturday for a baseball trip to Disney World in Florida during school vacation, playing a double-header on Sunday, starting at 8 a.m.

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