SOUTH DEERFIELD — It’s been a long time since the Greenfield baseball team beat Frontier. 

The Redhawks have had the Green Wave’s number in recent years, winning all seven contests the two rivals have played since the 2019 season. Greenfield’s last win came all the way back on May 14, 2019.

Behind a stellar pitching performance from Caleb Thomas and a big opening inning at the plate, Greenfield was able to halt that losing skid on Thursday. 

The Green Wave put three runs on the board to open the game and Thomas did the rest. The junior pitched all seven innings, striking out five while holding Frontier to seven hits, as Greenfield walked away with a 7-3 Suburban League West triumph. 

“Caleb pitched well,” Green Wave coach Tom Suchanek said. “He didn’t strike out many guys but we made plays behind him. He pitched a good game.”

The win was the second in a row for Greenfield (5-8), which is looking to get hot down the stretch like it did last spring when it made a run to the MIAA Div. 5 quarterfinals. 

“We haven’t had a lot of games like this this season,” Suchanek said. “Hopefully we can generate some more energy for the remainder of the season.” 

Frontier (11-4) fought throughout to get back in the game, but was unable to recover from the slow start. 

“Hats off to Greenfield,” Redhawks coach Chris Williams said. “Caleb Thomas threw a good game. They got the bat on the ball early and we made a few mistakes early on that cost us. They got us in a hole.” 

Deven Dubie reached on an error to open the game for the Green Wave and was driven in off a sacrifice fly from Michael Pierce to give Greenfield an early lead. John Marchefka, who singled earlier in the inning, moved to third on a Caleb Thomas base hit and when the throw to get Thomas at second went into the outfield, Marchefka was able to take home to add to the Green Wave lead. 

Luca Siano smashed a single to drive in Thomas to give Greenfield its 3-0 lead before the Redhawks had even gotten to hit. 

The Green Wave tacked on a pair of runs in the third. It was an error that put Marchefka on to open the inning and Michael Pierce bombed a triple to the fence in right field to knock in Marchefka. 

Thomas hit a sac fly to left to plate Pierce, putting Greenfield ahead 5-0 going into the bottom of the third. 

The Frontier bats woke up in the fourth. Jack Conlon singled and Rosco Palmer bashed a double to score Conlon from first to put the Redhawks on the board. Grayson Loos singled home Palmer to cut the Green Wave lead to 5-2 going into the fifth. 

Frontier added a third run in the fifth. Kaden James singled and with Collin West running for him, West scored from second off a base hit from Conlon, just making it under the tag at home to make it a 5-3 game going into the sixth. 

Greenfield was able to score insurance runs in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, the Green Wave loaded the bases after Arthur Fitzpatrick and Preston Lafleur singled and Chase Zraunig walked. Marchefka walked to score Fitzpatrick, adding to the Greenfield lead. 

In the seventh, Siano smashed a double and Nick Prasol knocked him in with a base hit to right, giving the Green Wave a 7-3 lead. Frontier threatened and put a pair on in the seventh when Ben Caron singled and Conlon was hit by a pitch, but Thomas got a fly out to end the game. 

“We proved we can do it,” Suchanek said. “The question is if we can keep doing it. This is what we did last year in the state tournament when we made the run. We got good pitching, we played good defense and we hit the ball.” 

Aidan Heffernan went 2 1/3 for Frontier, scattering four hits. Owen Babb came on in relief and struck out two and scattered two in 3 1/3 innings work before Wyatt Edes pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, striking out two and allowing one hit. 

“I give our guys credit, we stayed up the whole game,” Williams said. “We didn’t hang our heads. Babb came in and ate up some innings for us. He did well and we were pleased with that. Greenfield was more clutch than us today and that’s what the scoreboards shows.” 

Mahar 2, Franklin Tech 1 — Matt Vitello pitched a gem, striking out six and allowing just one run on four hits and one walk to lead the Senators to a tight 2-1 victory on Thursday in Turners Falls.

David Vitello and Lucas Isrow had two hits apiece for Mahar, which scored both of its runs in the top of the sixth inning. Franklin Tech cut the deficit in half with a run in the bottom of the frame but couldn’t push another across against Vitello.

Levi Clark took the tough-luck loss for the Eagles, as he pitched five solid innings with four strikeouts, one walk and four hits allowed. Gavin Crossman had two of Tech’s four hits, and pitched the final two frames.

Athol 23, Mohawk Trail 4 (5) — The Bears scored 10 runs in the third and tacked six runs on the board in the fourth to run away with a Bi-County North triumph over the Warriors in Buckland Thursday. 

Logan Cormier was 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI while Noah Wein tallied two hits and three RBIs for Athol. Riley Young cracked a pair of hits and knocked in a run, Alex Lavigne recorded two hits and an RBI, Andrew Robinson finished with one hit and three RBIs while Eli Wein had one hit and two RBIs in the win. Noah Wein struck out four in the victory. 

Weston den Ouden, Grady Patenaude, Noah Sprague and Brady Gancarz hit safely for the Warriors.