Decatur Trounces Queen Anne’s, 11-1

Decatur Trounces Queen Anne’s, 11-1
decaturhawk26

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s red-hot varsity baseball team
continued its winning ways this week, riding a nine-run fourth inning to
trounce visiting Queen Anne’s on Monday, 11-1.

The Seahawks scored three in the first and added a fourth
run in the third on a solo homer by Chris Bunting. Queen Anne’s attempted to
rally in the top of the fourth, but an outstanding catch by Connor Malloy in
deep right field ended the threat. The Lions got a single and a walk to put
runners on first and second with one out. A line drive single scored Queen
Anne’s first run of the game to cut the lead to 4-1 with runners on first and
third and still only one out.

A passed ball allowed the Lions’ runner on first to move
up, putting runners on second and third with one out. Decatur pitcher Brad
Stiles got a big strike out for the second out of the inning with runners still
on second and third. The next Queen Anne’s batter hit a long fly ball to right
that appeared to be going over right fielder Connor Malloy’s head, but Malloy
raced back and made a stabbing catch of the long fly just before the fence in
right to end the inning and the Lions’ only real threat in the game.

Just as is often the case, a big defensive play in the
field carries over to the next inning at the plate. Malloy led off the bottom
of the fourth with a double and Mike Newcomb walked to put runners on first and
third with no outs. Troy Bennett then laid down the perfect bunt, but nobody
covered first and the Seahawks were in business with the bases loaded and no
outs.

Bunting and Marshall Betts followed with singles to extend
the lead to 7-1 before James Rossi hit a double in the gap to score Bunting and
Betts, making the score 9-1. However, Rossi was thrown out at third attempting
to stretch a double into a triple and the bases were empty with one out.

Decatur picked right up where it left off, however. Mike
Baglieri reached on an error and Josh Tyndall walked, putting runners on first
and second with one out. Stiles flied out for the second out of the inning, but
Bennett walked to load the bases. 
Newcomb then collected his second hit of the inning, scoring Baglieri
and Tyndall to make it 11-1. By the time the rally ended with a ground out,
Decatur had sent 12 men to the plate in the inning, scoring seven runs to
decide the issue once and for all.

Back in action on Tuesday, the Seahawks continued its hot
streak, although the outcome was completely different than Monday’s rout.
Decatur edged Parkside, 2-0, behind a complete game shutout by Bennett, who
also hit a two-run home to account for all of the Seahawks’ runs in the
low-scoring game.