The Hurricanes Varsity Baseball team ran into a pitching machine Saturday in the fog at Heinz Field, and the machine won.With precision and remarkable accuracy, Putnam threw nothing but blazing strikes past the very young Block Island team, which this year is made up of many eighth graders facing high school pitching for the first time. At one point Putnam’s pitcher threw nine straight strikes to retire the side, drawing “wows” from the entire crowd.But the ‘Canes were not intimidated, aggressively swinging at each opportunity, choking up on the bat as needed to get around, with their older teammates encouraging andshowing leadership, they gutted-out three runs including a first inning score by Augie Lambert.But is wasn’t enough, as they lost 9-3 as one would expect.Block Island junior ace Sam Stockman mixed up a repertoire of curves and fastballs of his own as the teams played even for the first couple of innings. What Stockman lacksin accuracy he makes up for in remarkable arm strength, speed and a deceptive whiplike delivery. Come his senior year, with a focus on working on consistency, Stockmancould be remarkable.A tiring Stockman was relieved part way through the game by the reliable Lambert who
