For eight innings Monday night, Watertown High School had almost no success against Immaculate Heart Central freshman right-hander Anthony Magovney.

But when Magovney finally had thrown enough pitches for IHC coach Mike Delaney's liking, he reluctantly removed his young standout even though Magovney had allowed just two hits and one earned run.

Reliever Matt Yott was a welcome sight for the Cyclones, however. WHS jumped on Magovney's replacement to score four runs in the top of the ninth inning and post a 6-2 Frontier League "A" Division baseball victory at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Yott allowed a leadoff double to Forrester Wight, then hit Will Jaacks. After a perfect sacrifice bunt by Craig Frederick, Yott also hit Nolan Bodah with a pitch to load the bases. With the infield drawn in, Sean Scordo hit a hard shot that IHC third baseman Sam Cavallario could only knock down. Yott walked Ryan Gentile to force in a second run, and Will VanHouten smacked a ringing double to left to plate the final two runs.

"I kept telling the kids we just had to hang around and eventually we'd do something offensively," said first-year WHS coach Matt Covey. "We knew our pitchers would hold them down. I'd match those two aces with anybody in the league."

VanHouten, a junior left-hander, went the first six innings for WHS (8-4 overall, 4-1 league). He yielded only five hits, struck out five and walked three.

Senior righty Josh Cox took over for VanHouten in the seventh and was all but untouchable. He faced 11 batters in his three-inning stint to earn the win, didn't allow a hit and fanned five.

"I felt bad for Will because he pitched more than good enough to get the win," Cox said. "Our bats have been struggling a little bit so it was good to win a close game."

Magovney, the fourth in a line of Magovney brothers to play for Delaney, showed the kind of stuff that should make him tough for the next three seasons.

Except for walking eight, Magovney kept the Cyclone hitters off-balance with a fastball that he spotted well and a curve ball that he often used for his strikeout pitch.

"For a young kid with not much experience, Anthony really knows how to pitch," Delaney said. "But after 130 pitches, I'm not going to take a chance on hurting a young arm like his. I put Matt in a tough spot. He really didn't have enough time to loosen up well."

Said Cox of Magovney: "He really didn't let you get comfortable at the plate. And he was sneaky fast."

WHS scored first in the third on two walks and two wild pitches.

The Cavaliers (7-6, 2-3) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on a single by Patrick Caldwell, consecutive walks by VanHouten, a double-play grounder and a wild pitch.

A walk, an infield single by Sean Scordo and a throwing error allowed WHS to tie the game in the fifth.

Both teams also committed costly base-running mistakes. WHS had a runner picked off second base with two outs in the seventh. IHC saw a runner picked off at first, and another run into a double play on a pop fly to the infield.

"Josh was throwing as well as he has all year," Covey said of Cox. "He gave us a chance to come back and win."