Fourth Inning Pushes Shockers Past Cardinals

By Dean Barker
​The RCBL Shockers took the lead in the fourth and never looked back, picking up a 4-2 road win at the Grottoes Cardinals on Sunday, June 4. With the win, the Shockers moved to 2-3, while Grottoes fell to 3-2.
 
“If we get guys to produce at the plate and get pitching like that, and our defensive play… we should be solid all year,” Shockers head coach Nolan Potts said.
 
Mason Sawyers picked up the win for the Shockers to move to 1-0, pitching a full nine innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits with six walks and one strikeout.
 
“After every inning, I was like ‘Dang, I feel good, I’ll go again,’” Sawyers said. “I just kept going, I knew they’d make good plays behind me.”
 
Tucker Garrison took the loss for Grottoes and fell to 2-1 on the season, pitching the first four innings and giving up three earned runs on six hits with no walks and no strikeouts. Andrew Baugher pitched four innings, giving up one earned run on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Lucas Cash pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts.
 
The Shockers got on the board first with RBI doubles from Haden and Harrison Madagan in the top of the fourth, followed by an RBI triple from Kaden Spaid to make it 3-0. Garret Huffman hit an RBI triple in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 3-1.
 
With two on and one out in the top of the fifth, Nick Arnold would hit an RBI double to plate Luke Keister, but Dawson Russel was called out at the plate.
 
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Whit Scafidi grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Dylan Nicely came home for the Cardinals to make it a 4-2 game.
 
The Shockers had four runs on nine hits with one error and four left on base. Arnold went 2-4 with an RBI to lead the way. Russel was 2-4. Spaid, Haden and Harrison Madagan all went 1-4 with one RBI. Bodie Pullen went 1-3. Connor Houser was 1-4. In the field, the Shockers turned five double plays on the day.
 
The Cardinals had two runs on four hits with two errors and five runners stranded. Huffman went 1-2 with an RBI and a walk to lead the Cardinals. Jacob Merica and Aidan Miller were both 1-3. Eli Lam was 1-4.
 
“We had some opportunities, and just didn’t have quality at-bats when we needed,” Cardinals head coach Tim Nicely said. “We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had throughout the game.”
 
The Shockers will be back in action when they visit the Montezuma Braves on Tuesday, June 6 at 7:30 pm. Potts says the Shockers will have to take this game seriously.
 
“They’re very well coached, very talented squad, got some pitchers, and definitely some guys that can hit,” Potts said. “If we get pitching like that, defense, and like we talked about, a little situational hitting, put a big inning together and play all three phases of the game well, I think we’ll be fine.”
 
The Cardinals will look to bounce back when they host the Blue Sox on Wednesday, June 7 at 7:30 pm. To win, Nicely says his team will need to learn from this loss.
 
“We need to fix the things we didn’t do so well, we’ve got to have a better approach at the plate,” Nicely said. “We just need to come ready to play Wednesday… All the teams in this league are good, they have good players.”

---