A porcupine appeared in left field during the first inning of Friday’s baseball game between Wilton-Lyndeborough and Mascenic baseball game, delaying play for a while.

The Warriors might have spent the first few frames wishing it had stuck around, as the visiting Vikings teed off on their pitching early on before WLC made the game close. Ultimately, Mascenic plated three runs in the top of the seventh to seal the 14-9 win. 

The Warrior offense showed promise in the second inning, when Daxtin Richards lined a rope to right-center so hard that Rowan Voutour threw him out at first.

Mascenic’s Luke Lereaux came back with a single in the next inning, made it to third with a steal and a fielder’s choice before Logan Lucas singled him in. A walk was followed by Brady Kibela and Owen Pearson each singling in runs.

Mascenic’s strong hitting continued in the fourth, when Chuck Phillips launched a fly to left field and a tough sun made for an error that landed him on second. A hit batsman and Quinn Krook's sacrifice fly brought another run home, and a wild pitch followed by another Kibela single put another crooked number on the board for the Vikings. 

Colby Collins scored the Warriors’ first run after he tripled to center field and slid home on a wild pitch, but the Vikings padded their lead with singles by Parker Ketola and Lereaux and a wild pitch. Pearson knocked in Lucas for a 10-1 Mascenic lead after 4 1/2 innings. 

Warriors coach Paul Levesque called his players behind the dugout and told them to “Pick your heads up and start playing baseball,” and they took his words to heart in their half of the fifth.

Trevor Sullivan beat out a throw for an infield hit, stole second, was singled to third by Warren Sullivan and scored on a single by eighth-grader Ezra Meltzer. Logan Lucas left third base to pitch relief for Mascenic, but walked two batters, leaving the bases were loaded with eighth-graders called up for the game owing to thin WLC ranks during vacation week. After another walk, a sacrifice fly by Trevor Sullivan and a single by J.J. Benson, an intentional walk by Mascenic didn’t pay off, as a hit batsman and dribbler to third was bobbled for another WLC run.

Robbie Batchelder took the mound as the third Vikings pitcher of the day, and got the second out with a swinging strikeout and the third one looking, but the Warriors had clawed back to an 11-8 deficit.

In the Mascenic half of the sixth, catch Trevor Sullivan took a foul tip off his left foot, prompting the umpire to fetch more baseballs from the WLC bench while Sullivan walked off the pain, after which Mascenic went for insurance. Phillips’ infield hit and a weak throw to first landed him on second, and a fielder’s choice and single by Parker Ketola plated him.

Isaiah Blais took the mound as Mascenic’s closer, blanked the Warriors in the sixth, helped himself with an RBI single to drive in Brady Kibela for more Viking insurance and barred the door in the seventh for a 14-9 Mascenic win. 

Asked what helped them to fight off WLC’s comeback in the fifth, Kibela said that it was concentration.

“We zoned in, and stayed zoned in.” As to the key to the win, “Our pitchers threw strikes,” the catcher said. 

The eighth graders who played for the Warriors – Cam Butt, Sam Fish and Ezra Meltzer – all reached base. Asked about the highlight of having been called up, Meltzer said it was “Hitting a gapper over short for an RBI.” Reminded that he did so with two strikes, he nodded, explaining “I had to protect.”