By: Hannah Eastwood

After suffering four straight losses at the beginning of the 2015 season, it seems that the Westborough Rangers Varsity Baseball squad has finally found its footing.  On a chilly Monday afternoon, Westborough won its first game of the season with a 5-3 victory over the visiting Panthers.

“We needed it,” says head coach Mr.Kittredge.  “The guys were getting a little down.  Obviously losing the first four wasn’t quite how we drew it up.”

In the fourth inning, the Rangers found themselves down 3-1.  Frankly, this wasn’t unfamiliar territory for the team.  The Rangers led for only the first two innings in two of their first four games, and in the other two games they never led.  However, Monday’s game took on a different tone in the fifth inning when sophomore, Matty Ruhl, came to the plate.  Ruhl hit a crucial double to plate two runs and tie the game at three runs a piece.  Only an inning later, junior Jake Dugard recorded a double of his own to put the Rangers on top 5-3.  After a scoreless seventh for the Panthers, the Rangers finally had a reason to celebrate. They also took home a win on Wednesday over Shepherd Hill/

“Going forward with the season is exactly what we are looking to do,” says senior Connor Fitzgerald.  “We, as a team, knew for the first 4 games we were right in it and had a shot to win all of them. As far as this last week goes it was overall great to pull off a win and that snowballed and got us off in the right direction. Now that we know we can win anything is possible as long as we play good, crisp baseball and we know that is more than possible.”

Fitzgerald had a three run double on Wednesday to help the Rangers extend their winning streak to two games.

“Our strength has definitely been out pitching, up until [Wednesday],” remarks Kittredge.  “[Wednesday] our defense and our offense picked us up.”

Last year after the Rangers’ first six games, they held a 1-4 record and would go on to win only one more game that season.  This year already feels different.  Even in the games where the Rangers couldn’t pull out the win, they have been present in all of them.  In 2014 the Rangers scored 41 runs while allowing 160 runs in twenty games.  That’s an average of two runs scored and eight runs allowed per game.  After Westborough’s first six games this season, they have scored 27 runs while allowing 31.  That is an average of four runs scored and five runs allowed per game.

When asked the biggest difference between last year’s team and this year’s team Kittredge replied, “attitude.”
“Last year I thought we had some seniors who were happy to be there but not really fully invested.  I guess sometimes that brought us down a little bit,” says Kittredge.  “I think this year’s group is much more cohesive.”