First-place Mikes knock off Trojans again, 13-5
CARMICHAELS — Dickie Krause was worried about how his baseball team would react last Friday when Carmichaels hosted Section 1-AA rival California following a three-day layoff.
“We’ve hit the ball really well of late, but one of my concerns was how that time off would affect our batting, and also our defense,” Krause said.
The first-place Mikes showed little rust in those departments, however, as they played error-less ball and exploded for eight early runs in downing the Trojans for the second time this season, 13-5.
Nick Mundell hit a key three-run double in a six-run second inning, and Dylan Wilson and Steven Spehar had two hits apiece as Carmichaels (8-2, 8-1) maintained its grip on the top spot in the standings heading into Saturday’s game at second-place Fort Cherry.
Krause was especially impressed with his team’s fielding, most notably freshman shortstop Gavin Pratt.
“I thought we played well defensively,” Krause said. “Gavin played an exceptional game at shortstop. He made a number of nice plays.”
The Trojans (5-5, 5-4) were tied for third place with Chartiers-Houston going into an important home game against Burgettstown on Saturday, which was one-half game behind them.
Carmichaels parlayed an infield hit by Pratt, an RBI double by Wilson, a sacrifice bunt by Matthew Barrish and a California error into two first-inning runs.
The Mikes took complete control in the second.
Losing pitcher Brandon Powell hit Collin Reynolds to start the rally. Spehar singled to right and Chad Ruse, who had two RBIs, brought in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder that resulted in an infield error. One out later, Barrish beat out an infield hit to load the bases and Al Cree drew an RBI walk.
Mundell then crushed a three-run double into left-center field to clear the bases and put the hosts up 7-0.
“Absolutely huge,” Krause said of Mundell’s hit. “That’s about three games in the last four where he’s driven in multiple runs with one hit.”
Wilson drove in Mundell with a single to center to cap the rally and give the Mikes an 8-0 advantage.
”The first two innings were pretty bad,” Trojans coach Lou Pasquale said. “We didn’t play good defense at all. If we make a couple plays in the field, it could’ve been a different ballgame.”
Barrish earned the win despite a rare shaky start. The senior left-hander blanked California through the first four innings before a sudden loss of control forced Krause to relieve him in the fifth with two runs in, no one out and the bases loaded.
Wilson entered and limited the Trojans to one more run before stifling the threat.
Even so, four walks and an infield single by Brendan Sheehan sliced the gap to 8-3 and gave the Trojans some life.
“We’ve just got to tighten things up in terms of pitching,” Krause said. “We walked too many guys today (7).
“I think Matthew got tired. But he’s been a rock for us. He’s our No. 1. That’s twice he’s beaten them. You’re just so used to him being in a groove, that one inning he got a little out of it.
“Dylan came in and did clean that inning up well, which is one of the things he’s really good at.”
Carmichaels scored once in the bottom of the inning on Barrish’s RBI grounder to make it 9-3, but California put together another threat in the sixth.
Derrick Hammitt’s double, Powell’s run-scoring single and Sheehan’s RBI ground out produced two more runs to pull the Trojans within 9-5. They may have gotten more if not for third baseman Nathan Broadwater’s fantastic snag of Richie Stimmel’s line drive for the first out of the inning.
“I’ve got to give them credit there,” Pasquale said of his squad. “They didn’t give up. Their heads were down after the first two innings, but the fifth, sixth inning whenever we scored those runs, they came back to life a little bit.”
Emerson Panepinto relieved Powell at the start of the third and limited Carmichaels to one run over the next three innings, thanks in part to a fine diving catch by center fielder Nate Zemansky on Broadwater’s fly ball to end the fourth. The right-hander tired in the sixth, though, when the Mikes pushed across four more runs to go up by eight and put the game away.
Run-scoring infield hits by Broadwater and Spehar, Ruse’s bases-loaded walk and Pratt’s sacrifice fly accounted for the scoring.
Powell and Zemany, who pitched one scoreless inning of relief, each had two hits for the Trojans.
It was the second loss in a row for California, but Pasquale wasn’t panicking.
”The last time we lost two in a row we came back and won four in a row, so hopefully we can bounce back and do that again,” Pasquale said. “The biggest thing is they’ve just got to forget about this and move one.”