GREENFIELD — Frontier’s Joey Hutkoski might have taken a loss on the mound against Greenfield on Saturday, but his strong performance in the 4-0 defeat gave him confidence heading into the second meeting in less than a week between the two teams on Thursday. 

The sophomore went the distance the second time around, striking out four and allowing just one hit while the Redhawks defense did the rest behind him. 

Frontier took the lead in the third inning, scored three runs in the fifth and tacked two on in the seventh to get back in the win column with a 6-0 victory on Tom Suchanek Diamond at Vets Field. 

“I felt pretty good out there,” Hutkoski said. “I felt like I was locating well and my offspeed pitches were good. The first time against them Saturday I didn’t completely know where to put my pitches. Now that I know where to put them it was a breeze. We’ve been kind of down and having a hard time hitting the ball but we put it in play today and scored some runs.” 

After dropping two games in a row, both shutout losses, Redhawks coach Chris Williams said Thursday’s game was one his team had to have to stay in the Suburban League West race. 

“That was a huge win for us,” Williams said. “In order for us to have a chance to win league, that was a must-win game. We have a few big ones coming up but it was a good step in the right direction coming off a two-game losing streak.” 

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for Greenfield (5-3). Coach Tom Suchanek said his squad needs to get going at the plate as the second half of its season approaches. 

“[Hutkoski] pitched a good game,” Suchanek said. “It’s hard to win when you only have one hit. We put it in play but they made plays behind him. We’re just not hitting well right now.”

Frontier (7-4) rallied with two outs in the third to take the early lead. Jack Cusson drew a walk, Ben Caron followed with a single and Brady Poreda came through with a base hit up the middle to give the Redhawk a 1-0 lead. 

The inning woke up the Frontier bats, which had been cold of late. 

“The bats were going,” Williams said. “It all got going when Poreda came up with that clutch hit. That got things going for us. Ben Caron had a great day, Shawn Baumann had some hits. We executed hit and runs, we were dropping bunts down nice. Everything came together.”

The Redhawks broke it open in the fifth. Porter Hall reached on an error, Caron knocked a single and Poreda walked to load the bases, with an error allowing Hall to score. 

Henry Drinker then blooped a single to left field that brought in Caron and Poreda to give Frontier a 4-0 lead. 

The Redhawks added two insurance runs in the seventh. Caron opened the inning with his third base hit of the game and Collin West, pinch hitting, came up and demolished a triple to the left-center gap to bring Caron home. 

Braeden Dion singled to score West and give Frontier a 6-0 lead. 

“A lot of credit to Collin West there,” Williams said. “This was his first game not in the DH spot starting. I told him he’d come up in a big spot and to be ready. He came in and nuked one.”

While Hutkoski was throwing strikes, the Redhawk defense made numerous plays behind him. 

Frontier turned inning-ending double plays in the second and the sixth frames, and Williams credited Hall at first base for making some big scoops to end innings. 

“Joey pounded the zone all game,” Williams said. “He had a couple quick, short pitch innings. He was mixing and matching his spots well throughout. Defensively our outfield is as good as anybody’s. In the infield we made the plays but a lot of that goes to Porter. He was scooping everything at first base and that’s one of the hardest things to do in baseball.”

Greenfield’s best chance came in the third inning. Frontier committed two errors in the frame, its only two of the game, and a Conner Bergeron single loaded the bases. Hutkoski forced a ground out to end the inning with no damage done. 

Logan Moore pitched all seven innings for the Green Wave, striking out four and scattering nine hits. 

Greenfield is back on the diamond Friday hosting Athol while Frontier is back in action Monday, taking on Ludlow in South Deerfield.