MYERS SPARKS FOURTH INNING RALLY, LEADS OWLS TO 12-2 WIN

Langwell Sharp; 6 Owls Have Two (or More) Hits

By Mark Anderson

When Hamilton Bennent took the mound Saturday, his strategy was obvious from the very start: keep the Owls off-balance with off-speed pitches. Two things were missing in that strategy: you can’t throw too many off-speed pitches, and you have to get the pitches down to be effective.

Hamilton did neither, and he was not effective.

Rice opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when, with two outs, Adam Zornes doubled to left and Aaron Luna drove him in with a single to right. Padron walked, but Hague ended the inning on a grounder to first to put Rice up, 1-0.

Winthrop tied the game up in the top of the second when Henderson worked a walk off of Langwell, and Rohan followed that up with a single. Brunetti reached on an error by Zornes on a sacrifice bunt to load the bases. Jordan’s double play grounder brought in Henderson, tying the score at 1-1. Mc Bride ended the inning on a drag bunt attempt that failed, but the game was tied 1-1.

An Easter Bunny Sighting
In the top of the third, Bonomi opened the frame with a sinking liner to left that Derek Myers caught. The Eagles thought they had better eyes, and the debate involving Winthrop head coach Joe Hudak and third base umpire Rodney Galloway was on. Hudak turned to go to first base when Galloway said something to him. Hudak put his finger to his ear, and Galloway was about to be transformed into the Easter Bunny. “Are you the head coach or is someone else?” Galloway asked. He then told Hudak, “I’ve had enough—go sit down.” Hudak turned and was walking to do just that—and Galloway had turned his back as well—when a fan in the stands shouted, “Ump, you can take your paycheck and eat it.” Galloway turned around and again told the Winthrop dugout that was enough, earning him the Rabbit Ears Umpire of the Game Award.

“I saw it was a soft liner coming in, and I was determined right off the bat to go and catch that ball,” Myers told the Blog afterwards. “I went in and slid, and I did catch it. It was at the end of my glove, but I did catch it,” Derek explained.

Rice added their second run of the day in the bottom of the inning when Gayhart singled up the middle, moved to second on a wild pitch by Bennett, and scored on an Adam Zornes single. Luna was walked, but Padron and Hague both struck out to end the threat.

In the top of the fourth, Winthrop scored their second—and what would turn out to be their last run of the day—when Eddie Rohan took a Matt Langwell pitch out of the park to bring the Eagles and the Owls even.

It would be the last time Winthrop would score.

MYERS GETS A 2-0 PITCH--CHA CHING!
In the fourth inning, Jordan Dodson led off with a single. Seastrunk followed with another single. Comerota laid down a sacrifice bunt, and third baseman Henderson bungled it, allowing Dodson to score on the play. That brought up Derek Myers, who got a 2-0 fastball and turned on it, drivingit out to left for a homerun and three RBIs.

“Well it was a 2-0 piptch, it was right down the middle, and runners on first and third, and I was looking for a pitch I could drive,” Myers told the Blog afterwards. “Luckily, it was right down the middle and I made great contact.”

That contact ignited the Owl offense. Instead of being tied by the Eagles, they began soaring over them by a score of 6-2.

Meanwhile, Matt Langwell hit cruise control, retiring nine of the last ten batters he faced beginning in the fifth inning. The only blemish against him in that time was a walk to Rohan in the sixth.

The Owls almost added injury to insult when a high J.P. Padron pop-up had three Eagles circling around it—only to hit the face of Hamilton Bennett flush in foul territory. Perhaps Hamilton Bennett had not gotten the unwritten memo that pitchers are to stay clear of pop-ups for a reason. There’s no doubt he got it after that play.

HANDOSOME RICK HAGUE HAD THREE HITS. . . .THE LAST TWO WERE HUGE
In the seventh, Rick Hague led off against Mike Ritson with a hustling double to left. Jordan Dodson doubled to left and brought Hague in. That brought a change of pitchers, but not a change in result, as Seastrunk singled through the left side, but Dodson had to hold at third. Comerota then hit an RBI fielder’s choice to increase the Owls’ lead to 10-2.

In the bottom of the eighth, Aaron Luna led off with a walk, and Rick Hague stepped to the plate against Cam Walters. Hague drove a pitch deep over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer to close out the scoring for Rice.

“It feels good,” Hague told the Blog afterwards. “Me and Coach Hallmark have been working on some things, and I think they’re helping with the swing,” Hague said afterwards. “It feels good.”

QUOTABLE:
AARON LUNA, on what the Owls expected: “Well, he (Bennett) was obviously good and everyone comes out here—it’s going to be a challenging opponent. We were able to stay back on his off-speeds, and see the ball up, and we were able to capitalize when he made mistakes.

(On the off-speed pitches): “That’s what the scouting report was in this guy [Bennett] coming in. So we knew we had to stay back and the results kind of speak for themselves.”

DEREK MYERS, on the contested catch: “Yeah, I did, actually [get a kick out of watching the ump and Coach Hudak debate the catch]. I did like it. He was over there, like coaches, yelling and screaming. But yeah, I did get a little kick out of that.”

JORDAN DODSON, on his good day: “everybody’s been hitting the ball well against these guys. Seems like the pitches we’re getting to hit, we’re making better adjustments and hitting the pitches and we actually get the hits. I think everyone is coming along as a team now.

On the slow speed of Bennett’s curve: “Yeah, someone that slow, his curveball is about 68-72, we’ve got to focus on staying back. Once you do that, it gets a little bit easier, I think. In the third and fourth inning, we started hitting the ball a lot better off that guy. It’s mainly just just keeping your weight back and staying back on those off-speeds.”