Knuckleballer Hodgson leads New Lowell Knights to 5-0 upset win over Bolton Brewers

By Jim Stewart

It was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel between NDBL archrivals on Thursday night at North Hill Park –until it wasn't.

The sixth-place New Lowell Knights (7-3-4) nursed a precarious 1-0 lead into the top of the seventh, but broke the ballgame wide open with four timely runs in their final at-bats to earn an improbable 5-0 shutout over the high-scoring, first-place Brewers (11-3-0).

For six innings, the Brewers and Knights were locked in a classic baseball game that featured masterful performances on the mound. The Brewers sent their animated sidewinder Victor Moguel to the bump to match pitches with the Knights' crafty knuckleballer Nick Hodgson. Moguel provided a quality start for the Brewers—he pitched 6+ innings and surrendered just 1 earned run.

That would be good enough to earn a W on most nights for the offensive juggernaut from Bolton, but not on Thursday.

Hodgson was just that much better than his mound counterpart at North Hill and frustrated the living daylights out of Brewers' hitters including veteran Bolton outfielder Chris Fafalios who saw his fair share of knucklers, sneaky well-placed fastballs, and an array of splitters from the Knights' hurler.

“We know what he has, so it's frustrating that we couldn't hit him. He threw his splitter to our power hitters and we were just ahead of it the whole time. We were definitely just missing. I mashed one, but the third baseman made a great play.”

Not only did Hodgson keep steady hitters like Fafalios in check for all seven innings, but his pinch-hit appearance at the top of the seventh contributed to a four-spot by the visiting Knights. Hodgson's timely double provided a cushion for the bottom of the seventh during which he dispatched a trio of Brewers' pinch hitters in a tidy 1-2-3 manner, including the final two by strikeouts.  In short, Hodgson was a one-man wrecking crew for the Brewers' nemesis from New Lowell. 

The crafty righthander's final pitching line and hitting line were impressive.

His 6K CG 4-hitter against the hard-hitting Brewers was complemented by a hit, RBI, and run scored in one at-bat against Bolton reliever Nick Fiorucci who struggled with command in the decisive seventh.

Fiorucci yielded three earned runs in an inning of work—inheriting a runner on first with no outs and the Brewers trailing 1-0 when Head Coach Mike Wallace hooked Moguel after 84 pitches.

Hodgson's stellar work on Thursday night for the sixth-place Knights was reminiscent of how the defending 2023 North Dufferin Baseball League champions won the Strother Cup last September at North Hill – much to the chagrin of the favored Brewers and their loyal fans. Good pitching and timely hitting were the keys to victory on that September afternoon and the champs replicated the recipe to stay in the middle of the pack in the tightly-contested NDBL Senior Division. 

However, as championship-calibre teams do, the Brewers atoned for their power outage on Thursday night. Bolton defeated the Barrie Angels 7-2 at Dana Field in Midhurst on Saturday. Less than 24 hours later, Bolton scored thirty-two runs to sweep a doubleheader – 17-7 and 15-4 – from the Clarksburg Blues at North Hill on Sunday.  

In Midhurst, Bolton starter Mateo Stothers went the distance to earn the W by scattering nine hits, yielding zero earned runs, and striking out three Angels over the five innings he worked. 

NCAA Genesee Community College Cougars' pitcher Saunders Mireault absorbed the loss for Barrie by yielding six earned runs and eight hits over the five innings he worked for the Angels.

Carter Burnside led the Brewers' attack at Dana Field with three hits, an RBI, and a run scored.  Ben Sterritt and Josh Hickey each collected two hits and an RBI versus Barrie.

On Sunday morning and afternoon, the Brewers brought out the big bats against Clarksburg.

In Game 1, Bolton fell behind 7-0 to the 10th-place Blues squad, but rallied for a dramatic 17-7 morning victory. In Game 2, the Brewers carried their momentum into the afternoon and defeated the Blues 15-4. 

With the three consecutive victories on the weekend, the Brewers improved their NDBL-leading record to 14-3-0.

 Bolton hosts the Barrie Angels on Thursday night at North Hill Park.  First pitch will be thrown by the Brewers at 7:30 p.m.