HAGERSTOWN, Md. – South Hagerstown takes a workmanlike approach to baseball.
“We just talk a lot about stacking good days,” said South coach Keith Hutzell. “Today wasn’t one of those days.”
To say the least, everything was stacked against the Rebels on Monday.
Take a few defensive mishaps, timely hits by Williamsport and add one inning when howling wind blew across the field and South Hagerstown’s stack was leveled in a 13-3 loss.
Williamsport blew open a one-run game with a six-run fifth and finished off with three more to end the game by the 10-run rule after South was retired in the sixth.
It all happened after the Rebels score two runs when Luke Lesinger reached on a two-run throwing error in the fourth to shrink a three-run deficit to a 4-3 lead.
Then, the stack came tumbling down.
Williamsport sent 11 hitters to the plate in the fifth against South reliever Tyson Mangold, who struggled when the wind picked up. Pitch trajectory was blown off target and South’s defense had problems defensively as the ball blew across the field like an errant hot dog wrapper.
A lot of that, though because the Wildcats were making contact with the ball.
“The wind definitely helped. They made some mistakes,” said Williamsport coach AJ Jamison. “We just took advantage of mistakes. We barreled some balls up and we just took advantage. That’s really what it comes down to.”
The fifth-inning rally started innocently with a leadoff single to center by Reid Bowman, which was followed with two walks to load the bases.
Jason Miles broke the seal with a soft infield single up the first baseline, followed by a two-run double done the left field line by Ean Boyer to make it 7-3. Pinch hitter Colton Hahn blooped a wind-altered single in short center to score Boyer and eventually capped the inning by crossing the plate on Bowman’s second hit of the inning for the 10-3 lead.
“Yeah, the wind, but you know, the wind was bad for Williamsport, too,” Hutzell said. “So, we’re not going to make any excuse. We just got to just got to fight through the conditions and be better. The wind was blowing, so … We just got to learn to make the routine plays and we’ll be fine.”
Wind and failure to make plays bit South in the sixth inning, when Williamsport scored its final three runs.
Cam Face drew a walk off reliever RJ Liriano to open the inning and advanced by stealing two bases.
After two strikeouts, Liriano got coaxed Hahn into a 40-foot popup along the first base line. Liriano and new first baseman Mangold converged in foul territory while Hahn ran closely past them to first base. Between the disruption and the wind, the ball bounced out of Liriano’s glove for a foul ball that gave Hahn a second life.
Hahn drew a walk as did Cooper Starkey to load the bases. After a wild pitch scored Face, Ruthvin walked to reload the bases. Nate Bowman reached on a throwing error that scored the final two runs.
“We definitely got in scoring position from the jump.,” Jamison said. “First inning, we put up two (runs). And then it just seemed like we have runners on every single inning to put pressure on them. We’re tough to compete with when we do that.”
It was a rough go for South from the start. Control and wind gusts become the foes for Rebels’ starter Shawn Higgins. He gave up a leadoff single to Nate Bowman before hitting Reid Bowman and Jared Dangerfield with pitches to load the bases.
Face and Miles each followed with sacrifice flies to give the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead. Higgins proceeded to hit Boyer with a pitch before getting out of the inning.
South got one of the runs back against Williamsport starter Kruz Jackosn. Derek Kline led off the first with a double to center before eventually scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Grant Louchery to make it 2-1.
Williamsport added single runs on the second and third innings to go up 4-1. Ruthvin led off with a double and scored on a passed ball in the third and Face scored before crossing the plate on a wild pitch.
South rallied for two runs in the fourth to close to within one run on one-out singles by Mangold and Kline, who both scored on a on Luke Lesinger’s grounder.
Jackson worked four innings to earn the win for Williamsport, allowing one earned run on four hits and five walks, while striking out five. Hahn worked the final two innings with one-hit pitching with a walk and two strikeouts.
Reid Bowman and Ruthvin led the Wildcats with two hits each, while Boyer drove in two runs.
Kline led South with three of its six hits and Louchery had a hit and an RBI.
South starter Shawn Higgins took the loss after working four innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk, while striking out three, along with the three hit batsmen.
In the end, South was victimized by their own generosity, giving Williamsport extra bases and chances with four errors, seven walks, three hit batters, three walks and three passed balls.
“It’s not necessarily how you start. It’s how you finish,” Hutzell said. “(Williamsport’s quick start) happened early enough that I felt like we could overcome it, and we did. It was a 4-3 ballgame when the wheels kind of fell apart.
“So, that’s what I just try to tell these kids. You can’t let what happened last inning effect next inning. We just got to be better and win the next pitch. We just didn’t do that tonight. Williamsport is a really good team. They’re well coached. They swung the bats, they took advantage of our mistakes, and that’s what you got to do. We just didn’t take advantage of it.”
