Shamrocks Surrender To Eagles
The bats came alive behind Gavin Schmidt’s three hits, the pitching held up and Sullivan hammered New Haven 16-6.
Cambrian Koch added two hits and provided relief on the mound in the victory.
The game was moved to Sullivan after a torrential downpour and the Shamrocks were the home team on Sullivan’s turf. They were given a rude welcoming. Schmidt led off by getting on base. Koch helped him come home right away and Sullivan was on the board. Hopen launched a ball to the right field corner and that drove Koch home. After an out, Trey Behrens found himself on first and got an RBI to boot. Lane Blankenship recorded another RBI for the Eagles and they were up 4-0 at the end of their first at bat.
Sullivan didn’t stop there and came alive again at the top of the second. Seth Valley bunted the ball and the wheels of Valley caused him to successfully make it to first. Schmidt launched another line drive and Koch landed on first and drove in the two base runners. After an out, Skaggs was drilled by the pitch. Behrens hit a sacrifice fly that caused another run to cross the plate and Sullivan led, 6-0.
New Haven tried to bridge the gap at their next at bat. New Haven’s William Hellmann landed on first and Luke Strubberg drilled a ball into a double and scored a run in. After the Eagles recorded an out, David Otten singled and tallied another RBI. Ryan Steinbeck rammed another ball in the outfield and he recorded a double and an RBI. Emmett Panhorst singled and the score was 6-4. Charlie Roth was walked, but Jordan Rice threw out Panhorst to help the Eagles on defense. Hopen struck out Mitchell Meyer to end the inning.
Lucas Parsons proved Sullivan wasn’t done extending their lead when he was the first batter of the third to single. Valley hit a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner and Scmidt hit a sacrifice fly to score Parsons. Sullivan extended their lead to 7-4.
At the bottom of the third, New Haven began to answer back. Hellmann singled, and after an out, New Haven's Andrew Rethemeyer was hit by a pitch. Jacob Gerdes knocked a ball to the outfield and landed on first after a run came home. Head Coach Ian Whitson made a pitching change and brought in Koch for some relief on the mound. He made sure the Shamrocks sat down after just their extra score.
The Eagles answered back to New Haven's score at their next at bat. Skaggs was walked and after an out, Blankenship landed on first after the ball was overthrown. Sullivan scored on the play and Parsons scored Blankenship home. They used the same motivation when New Haven was up to bat. Roth was walked but Koch struck out the next batter. The next play Sullivan stamped out the Shamrocks with a double play.
New Haven made a pitching change and Gerdes took the mound. After Schmidt and Koch landed on base, Hopen hit a spectacular sacrifice fly to score in a run. Skaggs and Behrens both singled which set up Blankenship for another beautiful sacrifice fly.
The score was 12-5 when New Haven was up to bat. Strubberg was walked but New Haven scored him. Koch added another strike out but Gerdes was walked right after. The Eagles didn't care and got a double play to keep the Shamrocks from scoring again.
Valley slammed into a triple after an out and he was scored by Schmidt. Koch kept up his good day and added another RBI to the score. Hopen kept up the hit parade and hit in Koch to add another run.
Whitson brought in some players to let his starters take a break. First, Andrew Starr came in for Behrens and singled. Next Kaleb Keen came in for Blankenship and he was hit by a pitch and took his free base. Kaden York came in for Rice and he singled and the bases were loaded. After an out, the bases were loaded again and Valley slammed another line drive to score for a last time.
The Eagles had 16 runs, 14 hits, and 15 RBIs at the end of the game.
Schmidt had six stolen bases and was followed by Koch with five. Hopen recorded three strikeouts and Koch finished with a staggering seven strikeouts.