Dunn School made a mid-game push in its May 25 match up against Upland Christian in the Division VII quarterfinals, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Upland’s three-run first inning as the Earwigs fell 2-3. >

JBBaseball

After a first inning that featured two errors and three runs, only one earned, Upland was held scoreless, while in the fourth and fifth innings the Earwigs scored a run apiece. The mid-game spurt closed the gap to 2-3. But Upland’s pitcher Matt Johnson kept his team on top through the sixth and the seventh, allowing only one hit and two runs over the course of the game.

“Matt’s our No. 1 and he rose to the occasion,” said Upland assistant coach Pat Proulx.

Dunn’s senior short stop Max Young echoed Proulx’s statement. “They shut us down,” he said. “He threw decently hard, but he kept you off balance.”

As Johnson’s pitches kept the hitters guessing, Dunn pitcher Stanley Bray threw hard down the middle. Bray had a solid game, holding Upland to only one earned run and slamming the Earwigs’ only hit for a homerun in the fourth.

“Stanley did a great job,” first baseman Conrad Gallun said.

Proulx said that early control was the issue for Bray.

“That first inning was crucial,” he said. “When he settled down, he had us on the defensive.”

Picking his spots well and hurling in consistent, hard strikes, Bray kept Upland scoreless through the last six innings.

“That was a great game,” Proulx said of the game that he called “a game of inches.”

Keeping it close is always crucial in a low-scoring game, but failing to produce offensively ultimately killed Dunn’s chances of winning the game.

“[Our bats] weren’t good today,” Young said. Dunn struck out on eight of 23 at bats and earned only four walks against Johnson.

But the defeat wasn’t a total loss. The young team has improved a lot since last year, Young said.

“It feels good,” Young said. “It’s only the second time we’ve ever been here. We just wish we’d won.”