NEWS

By Brandon Schwartzberg

The Giants entered the bottom of the eighth leading by one in pursuit of an upset victory in Olney Thursday night.

The Cropdusters — and Matt Miura (Hawaii) — had other plans.

Miura stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded as Olney’s seventh batter of the inning, two at bats after Dane Camphausen (Wooster) scored on a wild pitch to tie the contest.

The 6-foot outfielder fell behind in the count 0-2. One more strike would end the inning.

“Usually when I’m in [an] 0-2 count it’s fight mode,” Miura said. “I choke up and just try to touch the ball and put it in play and make something happen.”

Miura did just that, rocketing a pitch back up the middle for a base hit. Taye Robinson (Towson) easily scored from third. Matt Ervolina (East Stroudsburg) rounded third and slid past home plate just before the tag from the Gaithersburg catcher.

Olney took its first lead of the game.

The Cropdusters (19-11) used late-inning heroics for the second-straight night to defeat the Giants (9-20), 7-4. The victory marked the Cropdusters’ second in a row. But they easily could’ve lost both.

Anthony Swenda (UMBC) came through with a go-ahead, two-run base knock in the bottom of the eighth on Wednesday against the Thunderbolts. Then Miura did the same thing versus Gaithersburg the next day.

Miura was the star of the show on Thursday. He started his club’s scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-run single into right-center. The righty added two more singles to his ledger, including the go-ahead knock in the eighth inning. Miura accounted for four of Olney’s six RBIs.

“Just keeping it simple, going up there looking fastball and hopefully when you get it, don’t miss it,” Miura said.

The league’s batting leader improved his average to an incredible .398 following the victory in his fourth three-hit game of the season.

The man behind Miura in coach Adam Leader’s lineup, shortstop Caleb Estes (University of Maryland), drove home a run himself with an RBI single immediately following Miura’s clutch eighth inning hit. And Camphausen notched the last RBi with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth.

Despite not recording an RBI, Will Baumhofer (College of Charleston) had an excellent day at the plate as well out of the two-hole. The Cropduster left fielder registered a double in the first and singles in the fifth and seven innings. Baumhofer shot his batting average up from .288 to .310 in the process.

“Everybody around us, one-through-nine, everyone puts up tough at bats each day,” Miura said. “The people in front of me get on base, the people behind me always drive me in. It’s a whole team effort.”

Both starters — Nicholas Karls (Morehead State) for the Giants and Kade Ruffner (Purdue) for the Cropdusters — pitched admirably, lasting six innings with neither recording a decision.

Karls was in line for his second win of the season before his bullpen faltered.

After firing a scoreless bottom of the seventh, Tyler Russo (Towson) allowed the game-tying run before loading the bases and prompting his removal from the contest. Dominic Valis (Towson) entered, who immediately allowed three Cropdusters to score on back-to-back singles from Miura and Estes.

Brandon Rhodes (Jones County CC) relieved Ruffner in the top of the seventh and threw two excellent shutout innings. He was the beneficiary of his offense’s late rally for his first victory of the season.

Charlie Jones (Wake Forest) then closed out the win for Olney with a scoreless top of the ninth.

Both clubs are back in action on Friday. The Cropdusters remain at home as they host the Big Train in a matchup between the top-two teams in the North Division, while the Giants return to Gaithersburg to take on the Thunderbolts.