NEWS

Story and Photo by Taylor Bretl

Coming into the contest averaging 4.35 runs per game, the Southern Maryland Senators nearly quadrupled that number Wednesday night in their trouncing win over the South County Braves, 17-4.

With the Braves and Senators coming off low score losses, both clubs dropped to 6-8 on the season, and were looking to bounce back, especially offensively.

Kicking off the top of the first, Braves starter Danny Salisbury (Mt. St. Mary’s) was on track for a successful inning. The right-hander would record two outs within the first three batters, with Carter Groen (Iona) stepping up to the plate. Groen would interrupt Salisbury’s smooth sail of an inning, launching a two-run home run to straight away center, giving the Senators an early 2-0 lead. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Sylas Boris (Georgia Southern) grooved a single through the left side on the infield, extending their lead to 3-0.

Turning over to the bottom of the frame, the Braves would create a competitive battle early on. With a man on first, Parker Edwards (Houston Baptist) got a hold of a fastball and drove it to deep left-center field, cutting the Braves deficit to just one.

Heading into the top of the second, the Senators broke the game wide open. The first Senator to start the scoring fiesta would be Nathan Brewer (Middle Tennessee State), doubling in Quinn Allen (Yavapai CC). Two batters later, Groen would smoke a single, driving in Brewer to extend the Senators lead to 5-2. Within the next four pitches, three singles were tallied between Ian Kennedy (Michigan), Kydese Queen (Norfolk State), and Mikey Guy (Frostburg State), totalling three more runs and giving the Senators an 8-2 lead.

In the bottom of the third, the Braves were able to score a run off a wild pitch from Caden Carlin (Monmouth), cutting their deficit to five. Carlin escaped the inning with a 6-3 put out.

Moving to the top of the fourth, the Senators would nab a run back in identical fashion, a wild pitch. After the wild pitch, they tacked on their tenth run of the evening off of an RBI groundout from Mike Sweeney (Hofstra).

Scoring would continue an inning later for the Senators. On the first pitch of the fifth, Brewer swung away and tattooed the baseball over the left field fence, extending the Senators lead to 11-3. Braves pitcher Graham Jones (Marymount) recorded back-to-back outs, but then would give up the second solo shot of the inning, the time off the bat of Kennedy. Later in the inning, Queen crossed home to put the Senators up an even ten runs, 13-3.

The last of the Senators scoring would come in the top of the sixth. Brewer would homer for his second time in as many innings, driving in two more runs. The left-hander would end his night going 4-for-5 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 4 runs batted in. The final Senator runs of the game were thanks to Groen, who himself also had a two homer night. Now with four on the season, he climbed into a tie with Edwards for the most home runs in the league.

With the Braves unable to cut it within less than twelve by the bottom of the seventh, the game was called via the league’s run rule.

The Senators (7-8) will hit the road and travel to play the DC Grays (6-8) Thursday at 5:00p.m. The Braves (6-9) on the other hand will stay at home in a matchup against the Alexandria Aces (10-4) at 7:00p.m.