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SUDBURY, Mass. -- It was a pitcher’s duel from beginning to end, and ultimately a clutch walk-off single from Lincoln-Sudbury senior Brian Carroll was the difference, giving the Warriors (6-4) a 2-1 win over third-ranked BC High (7-2).

Junior Owen Bautze, in his second start of the year, got the win for Lincoln-Sudbury, scattering three hits in seven innings pitched. BC High’s one run came by way of a home run by leadoff hitter Dan Dougherty (2-for-4) in the third inning.

“BC High--they can always swing the bats. Last year they put a quick eight runs on us. [Owen] pitched phenomenal for seven straight innings," Carroll said in praise of his teammate. "He came out against a very good team and performed well."

Lincoln-Sudbury coach Kirk Fredericks echoed his senior’s remarks on Bautze, pointing out Bautze’s gradual improvement in terms of his mentality on the mound.

“It’s all about getting better," Fredericks said. "Earlier in the year if he gives up a home run it would have affected him for the next couple batters. Here he gives up a home run, he comes right back, and he does a nice job."

Following Dougherty’s home run in the third, the Warriors come back in the fourth with a run of their own. Sid Warrenbrand hit a single up the middle to score Ian Kinney and tie the ballgame at one.

“We really worked on two strike hitting, it showed up today," Carroll said. "And working on keeping the ball on the ground, hopefully to get it through holes."

From there on out, Bautze and BC High starter Dan Cobban dominated the tempo of the game. Cobban avoided any jams until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Shane Sefton started off the inning with a base hit. Bautze bunted to the first base side soon after, and Cobban bobbled the ball before he could get a decent toss over to first.

With runners on first and second and no outs, Fredericks made the decision to pinch-hit Kieran Pathak. The move paid dividends, as Pathak’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third.

The next batter, Dylan DeFlorio, was intentionally walked—bringing up Carroll with the bases loaded. Carroll wasted no time, hitting a line drive up the middle on the first pitch he saw to win the game.

“The whole game I was seeing fastballs, so I just wanted to be aggressive at the plate and I didn’t want to get down in the count," Carroll said. "First ball I saw, I took a hack at it, and got up lucky for a single."

Fredericks added, on Carroll’s final at-bat, “That’s our best player, they put our best player at the plate. So if we’re going to beat BC High, it’s going to be with our best player. He gave us the best shot, got into one and got a nice pitch to hit.”

Fredericks admitted he was skeptical on how his team would come to perform, saying he kicked them off the field during pre-game for a lack of effort.

“There are some games we’ve executed and some games we haven’t," he said. "Today we had to kick them off the field. They came with a horrible attitude, a horrible effort [before the game]. On their own, wherever they went for a half an hour, they found it, figured it out, and came and matched BC High,” the coach said after the game."

He also sent out a challenge to his team after the game. A relatively young, but talented squad, Lincoln-Sudbury has taken its’ lumps this year, and Fredericks wants to see a more consistent effort from his squad from here on out.

“We worry about trying to get better, I tell them all the time that it’s not about the result, it’s about trying to get better. We got better today, but, we got better against Westford and then we laid an egg the next day against [Acton-Boxborough],” Fredericks said.

"So we’ll see how we do against Waltham, will we be two steps forward one step back again? Or will we take two more steps?”

SUDBURY, Mass. -- Occasionally, the literal and figurative lines separating sports from real life disappear, as they did Friday night at Feeley Field.

While No. 5 Lincoln-Sudbury was scratching and clawing its way to a 2-1, eight-inning victory over Westford, there were symbols all around reminding everyone that what happened on the baseball diamond was not the life or death situation some make it out to be.

The Westford players sported pink undershirts they made for the "Coaches vs. Cancer" fundraiser they had weeks before. Most of the L-S players sported pink wristbands during the game. About 100 feet away from the concession stand, a woman stood at a Coaches vs. Cancer table, collecting donations and selling raffle tickets for a cause she believes in.

Before the game, L-S coach Kirk Fredericks presented Coaches vs. Cancer with a check for a $4,000, on behalf of the school.

These were all done to generate support and raise money for the American Cancer Society. It’s in times like these when one can see that games, at any level, are just that: games.

“Every year I watch the Jimmy Valvano speech (from the 1993 ESPYs) and that really touches me,” said Fredericks, one of the main organizers of the baseball team’s fundraising efforts. “As a matter of fact, I have it on tape because it kind of brings you back down to reality. When you’re going through every day life and you get up and you complain about your boss, or you complain about some kid you have in class.

"My daughter has had a rough two years in life. She doesn’t have cancer, but you go in the hospital and there are kids there that are living in the hospital. It makes you realize how lucky you are. We lost a kid from L-S a couple years ago to leukemia, who was in the baseball program. We have a kid now who is hopefully at the tail end of his battles, so things just make it mean a little more to you.

"Our seniors wanted to raise some money to put towards that cause and if we can have a part in that, then great.”

The team raised money by selling discount cards to various restaurants around the Sudbury area. During the game, raffle tickets were sold for the opportunity to win a signed photograph of Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis.

The total amount raised by the sales at the game and by the players in school will be added to the donation total, once it is tallied.

L-S works extra innings: On the field, it was the grind one would come to expect by two Dual County League teams.

Westford (9-9) scored its only run of the game off L-S (14-3) pitcher Sid Warrenbrand in the top of the first inning.

John Troy singled to right with one out, then stole second two batters later. He scored from second on a Riley Cox single to make it 1-0.

Troy also did well for himself on the mound also, not allowing a L-S hit until the fourth inning. He walked Matt Cahill to open the inning, then faced Michael Walsh.

Walsh hit a grounder to short, which slowed down considerably in the infield grass. By the time the shortstop could make a play on the ball, Cahill was mere feet away from second base.

Cahill slid head-first into the bag, beating the throw, making everybody safe, and giving L-S its first hit of the game.

He then moved to third, but a 6-4-3 double play gave his team two outs. He scored two pitches later on a Troy wild pitch.

L-S plated the final run of the game after Troy fell apart in the eighth inning. Michael Biggins singled to right to open the inning, then Cahill reached base safely after Troy’s throw to second pulled the shortstop off the bag, making both runners safe.

He then hit Walsh with a 3-1 pitch, which loaded the bases. Warrenbrand’s hit dropped in the outfield to send the fans home happy, and allowed him to finish the game he started.

Warrenbrand shining: Warrenbrand is only a sophomore, but did not pitch like one Friday. After he gave up the run in the first, he left 10 Westford runners on base, three of which reached third base.

His biggest scare came in the sixth inning, when he walked Riley Cox to start the inning. A William Alden single put runners on first and second with nobody out.

He came back and struck out Thomas O’Brien looking, then got Luke Morse to ground out to him, which advanced the runners, but made two outs in the inning.

Connor Murphy came up to hit, but Warrenbrand struck him out swinging, ending any hopes Westford had of scoring in the inning.

He gave up a single to start the seventh inning, but came back and forced a fly ball out and a double play to end the inning.

“He’s been struggling a little bit lately, and struggled in the early part of the game, threw a lot of pitches,” said Fredericks. “He’s been getting better as the game goes on. I think what you saw was that he’s a competitor and he’d come off the mound in each of those last three innings he pitched, and he came off like he just won the state championship. Then he goes and gets the game-winning hit. Sometimes you’re the hero, and sometime’s you’re the goat, but today he was the hero.”

Warrenbrand was relieved in the eighth by David McCullough.