DeLauter Adds to MVP Resume and Broadway Stays in First Place

By Mitchell Broughton
The Broadway Bruins extended their first place lead heading into the final week of regular season play in 2020 following two wins in a doubleheader against Elkton 11-3 and 3-0.

In game one, the Blue Sox not only had to put up with the near hundred degree heat index but also the offensive onslaught from the Bruins. Broadway racked up 12 hits in the seven innings of play off of Elkton pitcher RJ Payne, seven of those being extra base hits. Chase DeLauter was 4-for-4 with three doubles, a triple, and four RBIs. John Judy also tripled and drove in a run for one of his two hits in game one. Eight out of the nine batters for Broadway reached base at least once.
 
Trent Abernathy and Adam Riggleman impressively comboed to strike out eight while only allowing five hits and giving up one walk for the Bruins. Elkton pitcher RJ Payne pitched a complete, seven-inning game for the Blue Sox but only struck out four batters compared to the twelve hits and three walks he let up. It wasn’t just Payne’s fault, though. The Blue Sox defense had many crucial errors that let in a few runs early in the game. Lee Carneal had one of the few impressive individual performances in the first game for the Sox, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a two-run home run.

The second game in the doubleheader was not able to go the full seven innings due to lightning in the area surrounding JMU’s Eagle Field. Play was suspended at the top of the sixth inning and the game was ultimately decided to be called there by both managers. After five complete innings, the Bruins narrowly beat the Blue Sox for the second time that night 3-0.
 
Chase DeLauter hit his league-best eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the first for Broadway. He finished the night with five hits, three doubles, a triple, a home run, and five RBIs. The James Madison Duke has been one of the most impressive players thus far this season in the RCBL. DeLauter is a statistical maverick, leading the league in batting average (.490), hits (25), home runs (8), extra base hits (17), and RBIs (27). To add to that resume, he’s also pitched 11 innings where he struckout 13 batters and gave up only seven hits. If I had a vote, DeLauter would be my pick for MVP right now. There is still a lot of baseball left to be played though, and as we’ve seen so far just about anything can happen in this league.

Broadway sits atop of the league at 11-4 and will take the field again on Tuesday July 21 when they host Clover Hill at Eagle Field. Elkton falls to 5-10 on the season but will have an opportunity to pick up an important win at Stuarts Draft Tuesday as well.

FINAL: (Game 1) Elkton 3 Broadway 11. Winning pitcher: Trent Abernathy (2-1). Losing pitcher: RJ Payne (0-1).
FINAL (5): (Game 2) Elkton 0 Broadway 3. Winning pitcher: Brett Whiteman (2-1). Losing pitcher: Carrson Atkins (1-1).