Shockers Mercy Rule Cardinals, Win Fifth Straight

By Dean Barker
​The RCBL Shockers never took their foot off the gas pedal in a 13-0 seven inning win over the Grottoes Cardinals on Monday, June 19. With the win, the Shockers won their fifth in a row and moved to 6-3 and third place in the RCBL, while the Cardinals fell to 7-6 and are in fifth.
 
“We’ve got a 37 year old who can throw strikes, and he keeps guys off balance, and lets the defense make plays; we made plays,” Shockers head coach Nolan Potts said of Kirk Messick. “Obviously the offense kind of spoke for itself tonight, but a couple of diving plays out there; Luke had one at second, Haden had one out in left, the defense was phenomenal.”
 
Kirk Messick picked up the complete game shutout win to move to 2-0, giving up just three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
 
“I just try to throw as many strikes as I can, I’m not going to overpower anybody,” Messick said. “I was just able to locate all my pitches really well tonight, and… shoutout to (the catcher) for calling the right pitches for me tonight.”
 
Lucas Cash took the loss for Grottoes to fall to 0-2, giving up ten runs (six earned) in four innings on nine hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Jacob Dansey pitched an inning and gave up two earned runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. Eli Elgersma pitched one inning and giving up an earned run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts.
 
The Shockers got on the board in the second with a Harrison Madagan RBI ground rule double, and then he and Drew Hogue came home on wild pitches to make it 3-0.
 
In the third, Frankie Ritter would drive in Luke Keister on a single, Pearce Bucher would plate Ritter on a single of his own, and two runs would score when Harrison Madagan reached on an error. Haden Madagan drove him in with a home run to left to make it 9-0.
 
“After the first strikeout, I was like ‘You know what, might as well try to get a hit here, bunt one down,’ but then after that… I tried to go Kent Murphy (i.e. hit a home run) on that one, and it went over,” Madagan said.
 
The Shockers would add the tenth run in Keister in the fourth with a Nick Arnold sacrifice fly. In the fifth, Harrison Madagan drove in Bucher with a single, and Bodie Pullen drove in Griffin Hott on a fielder’s choice. Drew Hogue added the final run on a sacrifice fly to score Jaden Click in the sixth.
 
The Shockers scored thirteen runs on twelve hits with one error and two men left on base. Harrison Madagan was 2-3 with two RBIs to lead the way. Haden Madagan was 1-3 with two RBIs. Keister was 2-4. Bucher was 2-3 with an RBI. Ritter was 1-3 with an RBI.
 
The Cardinals had no runs on three hits with one error and five base runners stranded. Whit Scafidi and Natty Solomon went 1-3, and Luke Tomajcyzk was 1-2.
 
The Cardinals will hope to bounce back when they host the Montezuma Braves on Friday, June 23 at 7:30 pm. The Shockers will look to extend their win streak to six when they host the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks on Tuesday, June 20 at 7:30 pm.