SOUTH DEERFIELD — When the Frontier and Greenfield baseball teams have gotten together in recent years, runs have been hard to come by. 

That was the case again on Tuesday when the two Suburban League West rivals met for their first matchup of the season. 

It was Frontier’s Wyatt Edes who stole the show. The junior tossed a complete game no-hitter, striking out five and allowing just two Greenfield players to reach base — one on an error in the second inning and another on a hit by pitch in the sixth. At the plate, Edes drove in a run with a single in the first and it proved to be the only run Frontier needed, with the Redhawks walking away with a 1-0 victory. 

“I was feeling really loose,” Edes said. “I pitch best when I’m not thinking. I let my body and everything I’ve been training for take over. I kept throwing first pitch strikes and went from there. When I got down [in the count] 3-0, I’d just give them a fastball. I was talking to my catcher and when we got a 1-1 count I was throwing my best pitch of the day. Today that was my fastball and changeup. That’s how I got ahead of them.” 

While he has mostly come on in relief this season, Edes had impressed Frontier coach Chris Williams, so much so that he gave him the start on Tuesday. His performance made it so these starts will be certainly be happening more frequently. 

“Wyatt is someone when we’ve been playing early on has been getting bullpen work and has been proving himself step-by-step,” Williams said. “Today we gave him a chance to start the game and see where it went. I was super pleased. He was trusting his defense. It was a very impressive performance. It’s no surprise it was a nail-biter. Coach Suchanek always has those guys ready to play good baseball.” 

With Edes dealing for the Redhawks, Greenfield’s Caleb Thomas was up to the task on the other side and kept the Redhawks lineup at bay for most of the game. The sophomore also went the distance, striking out two and scattering seven hits, with the Green Wave defense making a number of impressive plays behind him to stay in the game. 

“It was a good high school game,” Greenfield coach Tom Suchanek said. “They made the plays when they had to. We made quite a few plays, too. It was competitive. That’s what you want to see. I don't like run-rule games where kids pick up bad habits. I’d rather a game like this every time.” 

Miles Ferreira drew a walk to give Frontier the first base runner of the game in the bottom of the second. He moved to second on a balk and Edes came up and drove a single to center that brought Ferreira home, giving the Redhawks the opening run of the game. 

Frontier looked to break it open in the bottom of the fourth. After a leadoff groundout, Tyler Cusson and Eathon Bryant knocked back-to-back singles before Grayson Loos walked to load the bases. Liam Skribiski-Banack came up and blasted a line drive to short that was snagged off the ground by Jackson Campbell. Campbell turned and tagged second to end the inning with a double-play and keep it a 1-0 game. 

A pair of big plays in the field by the Green Wave kept it a one-run game. Jesse Dubreuil got on with a single and stole second for Frontier and Brady Poreda grounded to short, but Campbell faked the throw to first and tagged Dubreuil out to get a runner out of scoring position. 

Poreda stole second and Alex Gochinski hit a single up the middle on the next at bat. Poreda tried to score on it, but the throw from Deven Dubie was on the money, getting Poreda out to prevent a run from coming across. 

In the bottom of the sixth Cusson got on with a single and moved to second on a balk. Loos then cracked a single of his own, but Cusson was held at third. The throw still came home and Loos looked to take second but was thrown out by Greenfield catcher Michael Pierce, which ended the inning. 

“We got a lot of guys on base,” Williams said. “When we’re playing tight games it stinks to run ourselves out of some innings. We have up some free outs so that’s tough. Going into the next game we’ll have to do a better job of that. I got Poreda out at the plate so that’s something I have to be more careful of. At the same time we’re an athletic team so some of those balls get through, it’s a different ballgame with our speed on the bases.”

With how locked in Edes was on the mound, it wasn’t going to take many runs for the Redhawks to get the win. Pierce reached with an error in the second inning and stole second but Edes ended the inning with a fielder’s choice tag out, a strikeout and a groundout to prevent a run from scoring.

Arthur Fitzpatrick was hit by a pitch to open the top of the sixth, but Edes got a groundout, a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning, holding Fitzpatrick at first. 

“When you’re dialed in, you’re not thinking about the score,” Edes said. “You’re just thinking about yourself and the batter. It’s just a one-on-one battle. It’s the only sport you have that with the pitcher and the batter.” 

It wasn’t all Edes, though. Frontier was locked in in the field behind him, especially at shortstop and third base where Gochinski and Skribiski-Banack made multiple plays to prevent the Green Wave from getting on base. 

“I was extremely impressed with our infield,” Williams said. “Liam was making plays, Alex was making plays. Our left side was lockdown. When guys are putting the ball in play in the Hampshire League you have to make plays. That’s how you win a lot of games.”

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