Holyoke, MA- On Monday, the North Adams SteepleCats (6-21) headed down the road to Holyoke to play their divisional rival, the Valley Blue Sox (15-15). The Cats were coming off a win against Winnipesaukee and looked to build off that momentum.

The SteepleCats got off to a solid start against starting pitcher Jared Kuryan (Western New England). Tommy DiTullio (Bryant) started the rally with a double. Later in the inning, Alex Lane (Northeastern) would single him in, giving the Cats a 1-0 lead.

That was pretty much it for the SteepleCats offensively. Cohen Nies (Defiance), starting pitcher for the Cats, worked through two scoreless frames to begin to contest, but in the third inning, everything fell apart.

The leadoff batter Chase Hanson (Hope International), reached on an error to begin the inning. The following two batters walked, which loaded the bases for the top of the lineup.

Blaze Fadio (Lafayette) went down on strikes for the first out of the frame, but Jevon Mason (Southeast Missouri State) singled home a run, tying the game. Two walks later, the Blue Sox were up 3-1. After that, manager Austin Straub had seen enough of Nies and turned to his bullpen.

Jack Dyke (Northwestern), making his team debut, was the first man out of the pen for the SteepleCats. The first batter Dyke faced was Ramon Jimenez (Boston College), who doubled to deep left-center field bringing AJ Guerrero (Washington) and Damaurys Rodriguez (Bryant) into score. 

Chase Hanson came to the plate again and was the tenth man to bat in the inning. Hanson promptly singled to right, scoring Jimenez. To end the inning, Hanson was thrown out trying to steal second base, but when the dust cleared, the Blue Sox had taken a 7-1 lead. 

After a long inning, one might think that starting pitcher Jared Kuryan may struggle the next frame, but it was the exact opposite. He sent the Cats down 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth.

Valley tacked on a run in their half of the fourth and put up a five-spot in the fifth, but at that point, the game was already in hand. 

North Adams put together a small rally in the sixth inning where they came away with two runs thanks to a sacrifice fly by Alex Lane and an RBI single by Cesar Franco (Florida International). 

This was a tough game for North Adams. The final score came out to be 14-3. This was one of those games that you would like the team to forget about and come out the next day ready to play.

As luck would have, the North Adams SteepleCats will play a double header today against the Coastal Division-leading Newport Gulls. The Cats will be the away team in game one and the home team in game two. Both games will be played at Joe Wolfe Field. 

Jack McMullen (Lafayette) gets the start for the Cats in game one, and Kevin Seitter (Quinnipiac) does the same for the Gulls. Game one's first pitch will be at 4:30 p.m., and the second matchup will begin shortly after the conclusion of game one. 

You can stream tonight's game through this link: https://necblnetwork.com/?B=395009.