Gators Rally Past Yard Dogs Behind 4-Run Seventh

By Andrew Cooney

In a back and forth game last night at Madison High School, the Gators were able to overcome a late rally from the Yard Dogs to secure a 9-6 win and post their second straight victory after starting the season 0-2.

​“It was a good team win,” Gators manager Scott Rowland said. “We’re showing some discipline at the plate. We’re not chasing pitches, we’re making them throw strikes.”
 
Cameron Lane (Lynchburg), Scout Knotts (Shippensburg) and Shane Dux (Hamilton) paced the Gators offensively, registering two hits apiece, including a big go-ahead two-run double from Knotts in the top of the seventh and a three-run homer from Lane earlier in the game, staking the Gators to a 5-1 lead.
 
“I was looking for something straight and got ahead 2-0,” Lane said. “Figured I was going to get another fastball, I’d seen two in a row and just tried and get my timing so I could get a good swing off and I got a good pitch to hit.”
 
Hunter Bell (Harford CC) got the start for the Gators and allowed an unearned run over 2.2 innings, battling through a couple of defensive miscues in the first two innings. “I thought [Bell] was great,” Rowland added. “We’re really a good defensive team and we didn’t play real well defensively today so he had to up his pitch count. I thought he was outstanding and he rebounded. He shut it down, which was important and kept us out of that big inning.”
 
Jonathan Rivard (Virginia Tech) continued to swing a hot bat, going 2-for-4 with a two-run double that tied the game at six and capped a four-run fifth inning for the Yard Dogs. Caden DeCroo (Indiana University of PA) and Brendan Hall (Washington University (MO) also had RBI hits in the inning.
 
Antonio Menendez (Wake Forest) got the start on the bump for the Yard Dogs and threw three innings of one-hit ball, striking out two. Cameron Taylor (UMBC) was charged with the loss, surrendering four runs over 2.1 innings.
 
The Gators (2-2) will look to continue their winning streak against the Bunt Cakes (2-2) while the Yard Dogs (1-3) will look to snap their two-game skid against Rough Riders (3-1) on Thursday at Madison High School.
 
In other league action…the Rough Riders (3-1) beat the Hot Wings (1-3), 10-4, behind a grand slam from Eric Lingebach (Christopher Newport) and a three-run homer from Justin Carboni (Pennsylvania). Jake Berry (University of Virginia) allowed one run over three innings while Brendan Albrittain (Radford) tossed two no-hit innings in relief to close out the game for the Rough Riders… Michael Grupe (Virginia Tech) threw four scoreless innings followed by two innings of scoreless relief from Brody Mack (William & Mary) while Ben Williamson (William & Mary) went 2-for-3 with a grand slam as the Sliders (1-3) used a 10-run third inning to beat the Bunt Cakes (2-2), 12-1…The Night Owls (4-0) continued their winning ways beating the Chili Dogs (1-3), 11-6, behind two home runs from Rob Weissheier (Hofstra) and three RBI from Lucas Donlon (Virginia Tech). Ethan Semones also homered and made a couple of nice defensive plays for the Night Owls. Ben Koomey (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) hit his second home run in three games, tying the game with a grand slam in the fifth inning. Kyle Schofield (Frederick CC) also homered in the loss for the Chili Dogs. 

Photo of Cameron Lane by Josh Belanger.

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