First-place Mikes knock off Trojans again, 13-5
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Carmichaels鈥� Nick Mundell swings at a pitch with California鈥檚 Jake Swartz behind the plate during Friday鈥檚 Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School. Mundell connected for a three-run double to give the Mikes an early 8-0 lead and they went on to a 13-5 victory.
Carmichaels pitcher Dylan Wilson throws a pitch against California during a Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School last season. Wilson pitched the final three innings in relief of starter Matthew Barrish to earn the save in the Mikes鈥� 13-5 victory. Both Wilson and Barrish return for the Mikes this year. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
California's Brody Conner follows through after connecting on a pitch against Carmichaels during Friday's Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School.
California's Brandon Powell (5) gets a lead off first base as Carmichaels pitcher Matthew Barrish and first baseman Steven Spehar (26) try to hold him on during Friday's Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School. Trojans coach Lou Pasquale looks on in the background.
California pitcher Emerson Panepinto tries to work out of a bases-loaded jam against Carmichaels during their Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School on Friday. Leading off bases for the Mikes are Dylan Wilson (third), Nathan Broadwater (second) and Stush Ferek (third).
Carmichaels' Al Cree steals second base as California shortstop Brandon Powell awaits the late throw during Friday's Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School.
Carmichaels players celebrate after defeating California, 13-5, in their Section 1-AA game at Carmichaels High School on Friday.
CARMICHAELS 鈥� Dickie Krause was worried about how his baseball team would react last Friday when Carmichaels hosted Section 1-AA rival California following a three-day layoff.
鈥淲e鈥檝e hit the ball really well of late, but one of my concerns was how that time off would affect our batting, and also our defense,鈥� Krause said.
The first-place Mikes showed little rust in those departments, however, as they played error-less ball and exploded for eight early runs in downing the Trojans for the second time this season, 13-5.
Nick Mundell hit a key three-run double in a six-run second inning, and Dylan Wilson and Steven Spehar had two hits apiece as Carmichaels (8-2, 8-1) maintained its grip on the top spot in the standings heading into Saturday鈥檚 game at second-place Fort Cherry.
Krause was especially impressed with his team鈥檚 fielding, most notably freshman shortstop Gavin Pratt.
鈥淚 thought we played well defensively,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淕avin played an exceptional game at shortstop. He made a number of nice plays.鈥�
The Trojans (5-5, 5-4) were tied for third place with Chartiers-Houston going into an important home game against Burgettstown on Saturday, which was one-half game behind them.
Carmichaels parlayed an infield hit by Pratt, an RBI double by Wilson, a sacrifice bunt by Matthew Barrish and a California error into two first-inning runs.
The Mikes took complete control in the second.
Losing pitcher Brandon Powell hit Collin Reynolds to start the rally. Spehar singled to right and Chad Ruse, who had two RBIs, brought in a run with a fielder鈥檚 choice grounder that resulted in an infield error. One out later, Barrish beat out an infield hit to load the bases and Al Cree drew an RBI walk.
Mundell then crushed a three-run double into left-center field to clear the bases and put the hosts up 7-0.
鈥淎bsolutely huge,鈥� Krause said of Mundell鈥檚 hit. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 about three games in the last four where he鈥檚 driven in multiple runs with one hit.鈥�
Wilson drove in Mundell with a single to center to cap the rally and give the Mikes an 8-0 advantage.
鈥漈he first two innings were pretty bad,鈥� Trojans coach Lou Pasquale said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 play good defense at all. If we make a couple plays in the field, it could鈥檝e been a different ballgame.鈥�
Barrish earned the win despite a rare shaky start. The senior left-hander blanked California through the first four innings before a sudden loss of control forced Krause to relieve him in the fifth with two runs in, no one out and the bases loaded.
Wilson entered and limited the Trojans to one more run before stifling the threat.
Even so, four walks and an infield single by Brendan Sheehan sliced the gap to 8-3 and gave the Trojans some life.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to tighten things up in terms of pitching,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淲e walked too many guys today (7).
鈥淚 think Matthew got tired. But he鈥檚 been a rock for us. He鈥檚 our No. 1. That鈥檚 twice he鈥檚 beaten them. You鈥檙e just so used to him being in a groove, that one inning he got a little out of it.
鈥淒ylan came in and did clean that inning up well, which is one of the things he鈥檚 really good at.鈥�
Carmichaels scored once in the bottom of the inning on Barrish鈥檚 RBI grounder to make it 9-3, but California put together another threat in the sixth.
Derrick Hammitt鈥檚 double, Powell鈥檚 run-scoring single and Sheehan鈥檚 RBI ground out produced two more runs to pull the Trojans within 9-5. They may have gotten more if not for third baseman Nathan Broadwater鈥檚 fantastic snag of Richie Stimmel鈥檚 line drive for the first out of the inning.
鈥淚鈥檝e got to give them credit there,鈥� Pasquale said of his squad. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 give up. Their heads were down after the first two innings, but the fifth, sixth inning whenever we scored those runs, they came back to life a little bit.鈥�
Emerson Panepinto relieved Powell at the start of the third and limited Carmichaels to one run over the next three innings, thanks in part to a fine diving catch by center fielder Nate Zemansky on Broadwater鈥檚 fly ball to end the fourth. The right-hander tired in the sixth, though, when the Mikes pushed across four more runs to go up by eight and put the game away.
Run-scoring infield hits by Broadwater and Spehar, Ruse鈥檚 bases-loaded walk and Pratt鈥檚 sacrifice fly accounted for the scoring.
Powell and Zemany, who pitched one scoreless inning of relief, each had two hits for the Trojans.
It was the second loss in a row for California, but Pasquale wasn鈥檛 panicking.
鈥漈he last time we lost two in a row we came back and won four in a row, so hopefully we can bounce back and do that again,鈥� Pasquale said. 鈥淭he biggest thing is they鈥檝e just got to forget about this and move one.鈥�