Nicely lifts Cardinals past Bruins

By Leyton pullin
The Grottoes Cardinals picked up their third win in a row with a come from behind effort 10-6 over the Broadway Bruins on Friday June 18.

The Cardinals hopped on the board first in the bottom half of the 1st inning as Dylan Nicely would go yard with a solo home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Grottoes padded on to their lead in the 3rd as Boogie Saunders would steal third and then score on a Keegan Woolford ground out to make the lead 2-0. Later in the inning Dylan Nicely would score on a wild pitch to extend the Grottoes lead to 3-0.

Broadway’s offense went to work in the top of the 4th putting two runs across on back-to-back RBI singles by Trent Abernathy and Bryce Turner to cut the Grottoes lead to 3-2.

The Cardinals extended their lead in the 5th as Saunders was hit by a pitch and then stole two more bases and scored as Jacob Zoller reached on an error.

Broadway would load the bases on a pair of walks and a single in the top of the 7th against Noah Burtner in relief as a run would walk in to make the score 4-3. Andrew Baugher would come in and strike out Devon Neal for the first out of the inning before Natty Soloman was hit by a pitch to score Jett Shue to tie the game at 4-4.

The very next at bat Abernathy would deliver with a 2 RBI double to give the Bruins their first lead of the game 6-4.

After the stretch Clayton Michael would reach on an error and then would score on a ground out by Woolford to cut the lead to 6-5 headed to the 8th.

Grottoes would load the bases in the 8th and Dylan Nicely would deliver with a 2RBI ground rule double to put Grottoes in front 7-6. The next pitch Keegan Woolford squared up a ball for a RBI single to stretch the lead to 8-6. The next at bat Zoller would deliver on cue with an RBI single of his own to make it 9-6. Jacob Merica would keep the rally going with another RBI single to stretch the lead to 10-6 headed to the 9th.

Adam Dofflemeyer would be called upon to come in and close the gam for the Cards and the power lefty struck out the side to end the game and pick up the save.

“This team has shown a lot of grit and has continued to play no matter what the situation is,” said Grottoes manager Tim Nicely when talking about the situation his team was put in during the closing innings.

For Grottoes Andrew Baugher (1-0) picks up the win after he came in to mop up the situation during the top of the 7th and the 8th and Adam Dofflemeyer picks up the save. Boogie Saunders only recorded one at bat and technically went 0-1 at the plate but added 2 walks and 2 hit by pitches as well as 4 stolen bases. Dylan Nicely also added 3 RBI in a 3-5 effort at the plate. Tucker Garrison had a solid start for the Cardinals giving up two runs, both earned, and added 10 strikeouts. The Cardinals (3-2), winners of three in a row, will travel to New Market (3-1) on Monday June 21 at Rebel Park at 7:30.