“Good Sticks” Lead Diamondbacks over Shockers

By Leyton Pullin
On Saturday June 26 Stuarts Draft defeated the New Market Shockers 6-2 behind a pair of homeruns from Zach Roberts and Lucas Adam.

Stuarts Draft started the scoring in the 3rd inning as Calen Owens reached on an error by the second baseman and then stole second base and advanced all the way to third on a wild pitch. Owens would then score as Jack Pausic turned on a pitch that zoomed past Pierce Bucher at third to put the D-Backs up 1-0.

Stuarts Draft would add on to their lead the next time at the plate as Chaz Harvey would draw a walk with one out and he would be followed by Owens with a ground rule double to put runners at second third and now two down. Zach Roberts would deliver as the switch hitter drove a 3 Run home run out to right center to put the D-Backs ahead 4-1 after 4 innings.

New Market would respond in the 6th as Frankie Ritter saw one pitch and hit a solo homerun to lead off the inning and get the Shockers on the board 4-1.

The Shockers chipped into the lead once more in the top of the 8th as Henry Delavergne lead off the inning with a triple and then scored on a Ritter sacrifice fly to right field to make it 4-2.

Stuarts Draft would respond in the bottom of the 8th the best way they know how, the long ball. Cody Bartley reached on a pop fly that fell between the first baseman, second baseman and right fielder and was followed by a Lucas Adam pinch hit homerun to extend the lead to 6-2 for Stuarts Draft.

Chandis Goff would come in to close out the game for draft and would retire the Shockers in order.
For New Market they fall to 5-4 on the year as Riley Owen (0-1) takes the loss for the Shockers on the mound. The Shockers were rather shorthanded as manager Nolan Potts had to come in and be the designated hitter. New Market will play host to Clover Hill (5-3) who are the winners of two straight in the RCBL Game of the Week on Sunday June 27 at 6:30PM. The game is being broadcast on 92.1 FM and 550 AM WSVA.

For Stuarts Draft William Mullins picks up the win in his first appearance on the season. “This was the first time I got to see Will [Mullins] throw and he said he could start so he got the start tonight,” said manager Les Sandridge. Sandridge had mentioned early on in the year that their pitching could be the question mark for the team as they moved forward but was happy with what he saw tonight, “I think we’ve found something with Parker [Hieneman] and Chandis [Goff] in the eight and ninth but the thing is we have to be able to piece it together to get to them.”

The D-Backs once again found run production from the longball as they now have five different players, Roberts(3), Owens(2), Funk(2), Pausic(2) and Adam(2), with multiple home runs. That is the most by far in the league as only Grottoes and Bridgewater have multiple players with multiple homeruns. “We’ve got good sticks,” said Sandridge.

Stuarts Draft will travel to Shifflett Field to take on Keegan Woolford and the Grottoes Cardinals (5-4) at 6:30 PM on Sunday June 27 in a matchup of two of the biggest power hitting teams in the league in one of the deepest ball parks in the RCBL.