It took a little while for the Carroll Patriots hitters to figure out Legacy Christian’s pitchers, but once they did … they really did.
Carroll broke open a close 3-0 battle by scoring seven runs in the game’s final two innings for a solid 10-0 win, Wednesday night in sunny and simulated Petco Field in San Diego.
The two area teams were knotted up in a scoreless tie through four innings of play, with Legacy Christian having out-hit the Patriots 2-1 at the time. The Knights had threatened in the bottom of the fourth, but left Jacob Thompson and Charlie Luke stranded on third and second respectively.
Maybe the threat awakened the Patriots’ bats.
A one-out triple against the wall in right center by Martin O’Grady, followed by Jacob Maurer’s single into left center, put Carroll out in front, 1-0, in the fifth.
Evan Stemmer kept the inning going with a double into left. Steven Chapman then hit a soft liner into left to score both Maurer and Chapman for a 3-0 lead.
Carroll added some insurance runs in the eighth when Mitch Applegate drove in Trent Randall and Mathew McMahan with a single, for a 5-0 lead.
Stemmer and Applegate both smacked two-RBI singles in the ninth as part of a five-run inning to double up Carroll’s lead to 10-0. Chapman, McMahan and 0’Grady also scored in the inning.
After the Knights pitchers limited Carroll to one hit through the game’s first four innings of play, the Patriots clouted 13 the rest of the way.
Randall and Stemmer both went 3-for-5 from the plate with a double. Randall scored twice, while Stemmer knocked in a couple runs and scored once. Chapman, Applegate and Maurer collected two hits apiece.
With Wednesday’s win, Carroll is now 4-0 this simulated season. They have limited opponents Xenia, Greeneview, Cedarville and now Legacy Christian to a combined two runs, while scoring 26.
Legacy Christian is now 0-4.
