Sexton and Laase push Reds past Cardinals

By Leyton Pullin
On Wednesday night The Bridgewater Reds would defeat the Grottoes Cardinals 6-1 at Shifflett Field in Grottoes.
 
Austin Nicely and Liam Grubbs would get the start for their respective clubs and would both toss great starts but get no run support. Nicely would go 6 innings and strike out 6 and would allow only 4 hits and 0 runs for the Cardinals. Nicely would face a few jams especially one in his last inning of work in the 6th as the bases would get loaded and then he would make a play at the plate to save a run and would get a fly out to Isaiah Blanks to get out of it.
 
Grubbs would go 4.2 innings striking out 8 and allowing 1 hit and 0 runs for the Reds. Grubbs would find himself in a similar situation in the 2nd inning as the bases would load up but then he would sit down Matt Curry and Jacob Merica on strikes. 

Nicely would be replaced by Bridgewater Eagle Elijah Dunlap who would work through a rough 7th inning but would allow 0 runs. Then in the 8th he would not get so lucky. George Laase would single and then Jonathan Sexton would crush a two run home run to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. Adam Dofflemeyer would come in to pitch for the Cardinals after the home run and would give up two more making the score 4-0 Bridgewater.

Nick Griffin would take over for Liam Grubbs and would work through the 8th with no hits and no runs allowed. In the top of the 9th Tyler Pullin would come in to pitch for Grottoes. Bridgewater would tag on 2 more runs on a Corbin Lucas RBI single and a George Laase RBI double. Pullin would get out of the inning with 3 straight strikeouts. Grottoes would put up a fight in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs as Isiah Blanks would reach on a dropped fly ball by Grey Sherfy. Blanks would later score on a Luke Wheeler RBI single. Wheeler would be put out on a fielder's choice and that would end the game with a final score of 6-1 for the Reds.

The Reds move to 9-7 after a big win over Grottoes led by a 2 run home run(1) by Bridgewater Eagle Jonathan Sexton. Sexton has worked multiple 10+ pitch at bats on the night and credited that to his defensive catching style behind the plate. “It allows me to see my hitting from a different standpoint. I think how would I pitch myself.” Sexton and the Reds also had a standout performance from George Laase who went 4 for 5 with an RBI. The Reds will be back at it as they host the Bruins(13-4) on Friday in Montezuma.

Grottoes drops to 8-8 with the loss to Bridgewater. The Cardinals continued to struggle to get the bats going as they had a single hit in the first 8 innings of the game until they had back to back singles in the bottom of the 9th. Elijah Dunlap gets the loss(1-1) for the Cardinals. Grottoes will be back in action Friday night as they travel to Buck Bowman Park to take on the Clover Hill Bucks (9-6).