Dominant Team Win for Cardinals

By Tyler Carney
The bats were hot on a perfect night for baseball in Grottoes as the Cards took down the visiting Stuarts Draft D’backs 10-3. The Cards got off to a hot start in what would turn into a dominant performance against a solid D’backs team. 

“ We’ve been talking about the good starts, and Tucker threw strikes early and we played great defense behind him, that really set the tone for the game,” said Cards Manager Tim Nicely.

After a scoreless first from both sides, two ground out RBIs from Jacob Merica and Luke Tomajcyzk brought in a runner each in the bottom of the second. Starting pitcher Tucker Garrison would keep the D'Backs scoreless until the 4th where a 2 RBI double from Grayson Bush would tie the game, but that would be the closest the D’backs would get. 

Grottoes would jump back ahead in the bottom of the 4th with an RBI sacrifice fly from Tomajczyk and would score another run in the bottom of the 5th as a 6-3 double play off the bat of Natty Solomon would be enough to bring in a run making the score 4-2 where it would stay through the stretch. 

Bottom of the 7th the Cards would blow the game open with 4 runs scored off of 2 RBI singles from Cameron Irvine and Garrett Huffman. Right after them Clayton Michael who came in for Jacob Merica in the 6th would step up and drive a 2 RBI double into the gap. All these RBIs came with two outs in the innings, very close to a completely different game. 

“We are swinging it really good right now and not all guys are right out of season and they’re swinging it well too,” said Manager Nicely. 

Tucker Garrison was eventually relieved by Eli Lam who continued the shutdown defense. The two top end pitchers would finish with 13 strikeouts and only 3 runs allowed on the entire day. Also only allowing 4 hits and defensively only 1 error to the D’backs 3. 

As for the D’backs, starting pitcher Jacob Grabeel would not get the loss as he was relieved in the bottom of the 5th where his relief Lance Gowans would give up the winning 4th run and unfortunately for Gowans he’d have to suffer through the bottom of the 7th until his relief Chandis Goff would come in and finish the game. Was not their day as the Cardinals strung together 19 hits in the game. 

The 8th saw the last of the scoring from either side as Ryan Farris of the D’backs would hammer a triple to center and was brought in by a Jack Pausic ground out RBI. Eli Lam had seen enough though as he would strike out the following batter. 

The bottom of the 8th saw two more runs batted in for the Cardinals. With Adian Miller bringing one home on an RBI single and Natty Solomon with his second RBI of the day brought in another. 

The top of the 9th saw Eli Lam almost send the D’backs home in order, however a HBP and a walk gave the D’backs a glimmer of hope. However once again Lam had seen enough and struck out Calen Owens looking after a long at bat to seal the Cardinals victory. 

The Cardinals move to 3-1 and will have until Sunday to rest. They’ll hope to keep the bats hot at home against the Shockers June 4th. 

As for the D’backs they have a quick turnaround as they’ll face the Broadway Bruins at home tonight. They’ll hope to turn it around as they fall to 1-1.

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