By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigialSports.com

**Check below the story for a video player to re-live every hit and out -- except one -- in 12 min, 17 sec.**


The exact contents of baseball-mound meetings may never been known to those in the stands and in the press box – and, perhaps, it's better that way.

With no outs in the fifth inning and Langley runners on second and third base, tying run Geremy Mahn stepped to the plate. That's when West Springfield pitching coach Julio Rivas meandered out to the mound for one of those mid-game chats with starter Mike Kent.

"I went out to talk to him when all that came up," Rivas said. "He was being the old Mike, 'What are you doing here, coach?'

"I said, 'Just a take deep breath, Mike. Throw it in.'

"I can't tell you exactly what he does when he gets people on, third and second, you know? It's a secret."

Well, whatever he did, it worked.

Kent struck out the next three batters in order – the No. 3-5 Saxon hitters – to stall the biggest threat of a rally against him in what proved a 5-2 home win for the Spartans on Friday in the first round of the Northern Region tournament.

A first-team All-Region selection, Kent went the distance, striking out 11 batters and walking one while scattering 10 hits over his seven innings of work.   

"We knew from the scouting report that we got from Langley that they're aggressive hitters," said Rivas of his pre-game talk with Kent. "They like the fastball. I told him, 'Keep doing what you do. Go in on your hitters, mix in your slider, your good change-up.' That's it. It was just Mike being Mike.

"Mike has always been the kind of pitcher when he has people on base, it brings out the best in him."

Added West Springfield Coach John James: "They have big boys that can hit the ball a long way. Michael had to be good tonight, and he was ... He's a heady kid. That's what I like about him."

Kent threw 122 pitches in the complete game, 85 of which went for strikes.

With their ace managing quite well on the mound, the Spartan hitters also held up their end at the plate. West Springfield belted seven hits through the first three innings to take a 4-1 lead. Four of the Spartans' 11 hits in the game went for extra-bases.

"Mike is a good pitcher," said Spartan shortstop Bryn Renner, who finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. "You know he's going to hold them to one, two runs maybe at the most. We go in with that approach to get as many as we can and just go up there hacking, because we know Mike is going to shut them down when we go out into the field. Mike did his job tonight and did it really well."

One of the extra-base hits was a fifth-inning, no-doubter home run off the bat of Renner. The high-arching shot over deep right/centerfield wall served as an impromptu birthday gift for his father, Bill Renner, head coach of the West Springfield football team.

"I knew he had a great slider," said Renner, whose older sister at least took the time to bake their father a football-shaped cake. "He kept hitting his spots on the outside corner. So I took a slider on the outside corner, hoping he'd throw me a fastball. He threw it a little high and outside. I squared up and got it pretty good.

"[It serves as] my dad's birthday present. It was great feeling."

West Springfield advances to the Northern Region quarterfinal, where they'll play Robinson. The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at Robinson as the opening act of a Memorial Day double-header. The Spartans defeated the Rams on the road, 5-4, on March 25.

"I don't think [we can take] anything from that game," James said. "We played them back in March, that's almost ... two months ago. They're a different team. They're a better team than they were then; we're a better team than we were then.

"I think our pitchers are better. I think our hitting is much better than we were then. We had just come back from Florida at that point. We had a rough trip down there. Now I think we're more relaxed."


Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com

                                                       R  H  E
Langley                     100 000 1   2 10 2
West Springfield       121 010 X   5 11 1

Notables:
LG-
Bergamesca - 3-4, SB, R
McLindon - 2-4, RBI, K
Gonzales - 1-3, RBI, 2 K
Hunter - 3 IP, 4 K, 2 ER
WS-
Kent - CG, 11 K, 2 ER
Morgan - 3-3, 2 RBI
Renner - 2-3, HR, RBi, 2 R
Haeuptle - 2-3, 2B, RBI