HUDSON – Guidotti Field featured two excellent pitching performances Friday night.
As softball, track and tennis matches were underway around the Hudson High School campus, the Hudson Hawks and Shepherd Hill Rams baseball teams played a doubleheader. Both pitchers excelled in the 6:30 p.m. nightcap, leading to a low-scoring, 1-0, game that Shepherd Hill would walk away with.
Hudson’s Chris Aucoin pitched the full seven innings for the Hawks. In the third inning, Aucoin picked-off two baserunners to end the Shepherd Hill threat. While Aucoin would concede one run in the next inning, he’d come back strong, keeping his team in the game.
“When he’s out there and he can throw strikes and mix his pitches like that, he’s going to be very tough to beat. I think he gave us every opportunity to stay in this game. We ask our pitchers to go out and give us a chance to win the game, and he did exactly that,” Hudson Head Coach Tim Reinhardt said.
Shepherd Hill pitcher Angel Paulino shut down the Hudson offense, striking out 17 over seven innings. Paulino retired 14 consecutive batters, and allowed only three baserunners over the course of the game. His no-hit bid lasted until the sixth inning, when Hudson’s Michael Atwater dropped the perfect bunt down the first-base line and reached base safely.
But despite Paulino’s near-perfect performance, things got dicey for Shepherd Hill in the sixth. Down 1-0 and desperate to tie the game, Atwater stole second to get into scoring position. After Anthony Moura walked one batter later, Hudson executed a double steal, putting runners on second and third with one out. The Hawks came close, but Paulino recorded two quick outs to end the threat.
“Their pitcher is very good – probably the best we’ve seen all year. Michael Atwater put down a great bunt, ran the bases very well. We just couldn’t get the next one in. I like the resiliency for sure, but that’s the next step. We’ve got to get those runs in,” said Reinhardt.
