NEWS

By Gavin Dorsey

Any day you come home with a win is a good day in the Cal Ripken Sr. League. Luckily for both the Grays and Braves, they each came away with a win on Monday.

The downside? The two teams were playing each other in a doubleheader, and each took home a loss as well.

Aside from a four-run outburst in the fifth inning of game one from the Grays, D.C. and Metro SoCo battled in a pair of pitcher’s duels, with the other 17 innings across the two games each containing one run or less. D.C. won the afternoon opener, 5-1, while South County took the night cap, 2-1.

The Grays’ pitchers starred in the first game; Eddie Kaftan (Mitchell) went five scoreless innings before allowing his first run in the sixth, while Sam Stratton (Wofford) shut down the Braves in relief with six strikeouts over the final three innings.

“We’re adding pieces little by little, becoming more of a team together, and that’s going to help us in the future,” Stratton said. "We’ve just got to keep building on the strengths and weaknesses that we have and just keep going.”

Stratton added that despite the team’s prior losses, he felt they did a great job coming out fighting for the entire day and playing with good energy.

On the other hand, it was the Braves’ pitching that dominated in game two. After allowing a run in the first inning, Metro SoCo’s four pitchers kept the remaining slate spotless. Despite missing the first game due to summer classes – specifically giving a Philosophy presentation on Aristotle – Jackson Coen (Georgetown) entered in the third inning without missing a beat. Coen went four innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five.

Coen noted that the Braves were more focused in the second game, and their resilience and ability to bounce back will help moving forward to the rest of the season.

“It definitely shows that we can play close games and just keep going and become hot,” Coen said. “We [have to] keep just doing what we’re doing because we know we can win these close games.”

In the opening game, the Grays got on the board first in the second inning, despite not recording a hit. Third baseman Myles Sargent (Maine) led off the inning with a walk, then took second base when a pickoff attempt flew over the head of the first baseman. After advancing to third base on a groundout, Sargent dashed home on a passed ball to score the game’s opening run.

Metro SoCo entered into a threatening position in each of the next two innings, but was unable to bring any runs home. Jeffrey Coakley (Mansfield) reached third on a wild pitch with just one out in the third, yet was stranded after a pair of putouts. In the fourth, Braden Ramirez (Dayton) also made it to third on an error from the shortstop, but that’s as far as he would go, as the inning ended two batters later.

D.C. added to its lead in the fifth inning. With Joe Marini (Catholic) on first, Braeden Mondeau (BYU) launched the Grays’ second homer of the year over the center field wall, roughly a 375-foot bomb. As rain began to pour down, D.C. extended its advantage, scoring two more runs to take a 5-0 lead.

However, the Braves earned a run back after a short rain delay. With two runners on, Travis Ilitch (Georgetown) singled down the right field line to bring home Katcher Halligan (Houston Baptist) from second.

Kaftan pitched a dominant game, allowing just one run over six innings to go with four strikeouts, but it was Stratton who slammed the door shut on the Braves. The lefty entered the ballgame in the seventh and immediately threw some heat, striking out two after an initial walk and retiring three of the inning’s four batters. The following inning, Stratton struck out all three South County batters he faced. Despite allowing a walk and HBP in the ninth, Stratton still ended the game without allowing a hit or run, striking out his sixth batter to give D.C. the first win of the doubleheader, 5-1.

The Grays wasted no time getting started in the nightcap either. With two outs on the board in the first, both Evan Bouldin (Delaware State) and Mondeau singled and catcher Stevie Thomas (Catholic) walked to load the bases. Facing a full count, Sargent walked to bring in the first run. Braves starting pitcher Andrew Schaeb (Marymount) prevented any further damage, however, striking out Henry Zipay (Nebraska Omaha) looking to end the inning.

D.C. pitcher Diego Barrett (North Carolina A&T) then worked through an incredibly efficient second inning, retiring all three batters in just nine pitches, including two swinging strikeouts.

After four scoreless innings, South County finally found some juice in the fifth. With two outs, Jason Mendler (Christopher Newport) dropped a single into center, and Matthew Wright (Virginia Military Institute) hit a ball right back up to the pitcher’s mound that Barrett had to throw while seated, putting two runners on base. Elijah Behan (Valley Forge) brought Mendler home with a hard-hit ball to right field, tying the ballgame. Zipay, playing in right field for the Grays, fired the ball back to the plate, where Thomas applied the tie-preserving tag on Wright to close the top of the inning still even.

Zipay followed up his clutch throw with a massive double near the right field wall in the bottom of the sixth, but the Grays were unable to bring him home and retake the lead.

The Braves broke the tie in the seventh, earning their first lead of the day. Following singles from Matt Westley (Virginia Tech) and Cole Fleming (NJIT), Mendler walked to load the bases. The umpires then called a balk on Barrett, scoring Westley and putting the Braves on top. A subsequent walk by Wright kept the bases loaded and ended Barrett’s day after 6.1 innings.

Ryan Wheeler (Alvernia) replaced Barrett on the mound and immediately went to work, tagging out Fleming, who was caught between third base and home, on his first pitch. He then retired Behan on a groundout, stranding a pair.

The Grays attempted to jumpstart their comeback in the eighth, but couldn’t bring any runners around to score. Both Mondeau and Sargent popped singles into the outfield; however, a putout to the second baseman halted any D.C. momentum.

Yet, the Grays had one last chance after Wheeler struck out the side with three swinging K’s in the top of the ninth. D.C. couldn’t get anything going in its final at-bats against Braves pitcher Tom Bourque (William & Mary), though, and Metro SoCo won the back half of the doubleheader, 2-1.

The Braves will be back in action Tuesday at home in South County against the Cropdusters, while the Grays will have an off day before hitting the road for Southern Maryland on Wednesday.