Though the I-5 Jeep Renegades made it a game late, the squad was on the wrong end of a 5-2 start, and couldn’t overcome the deficit in a 6-5 loss Monday against Capital in American Legion Single-A baseball action.
The Renegades got a strong game from the top of their lineup, with Cal Bullock going 2 for 2 with three runs scored at the leadoff spot and Miles Martin adding a 2 for 3 line with an RBI. The Renegades picked up five hits, but committed five errors on defense, not helping out its trio of pitchers in the seven-inning contest.
Jax Potter got the start on the bump, going two innings, allowing one hit, walking four and striking out three to give up four earned runs. Danner Hoinowski relieved him for two innings, allowing just one hit with two walks, two strikeouts and one unearned run, and Luke Mohney finished the last two defensive innings, walking four with a strikeout and one unearned run.
Weston Potter and Jack Nelson both added RBIs for the Renegades as well in the loss.
Rural Baseball Splits With Longshore, Beats CA
Hits were hard to come by for the Dirtbags on Sunday but the Rural Baseball Inc. squad managed just enough to salvage a split on the day against Grays Harbor Longshore. After losing 7-2 and managing just one hit in the opener, the hosts hung on for a 2-1 win in the rematch.
Longshore’s Eli Brown was more than the Dirtbags could handle in the opener, striking out 12 batters over five innings and allowing just one infield hit.
After a pitching change in the sixth inning Rural Baseball took advantage of three free passes to plate a pair of runs, but it was far from enough to overcome its earlier offensive woes. Boston Caron came away with the only hit in the game for the Dirtbags.
Jacob Rogers absorbed the loss after allowing three hits and two earned runs over six innings. Cannon Johnson continued to turn in sterling glove work at third base for Rural Baseball, but it was not enough to keep Longshore from running away with the win.
In the second game, Josh Ellis stepped up for RBI. After pitching the seventh inning in the opener, the southpaw pitched a complete game 2-hitter in the nightcap to earn the win. Ellis struck out 11 Longshoremen, including all three he faced in the third inning.
Hunter Gutenberger helped to eliminate traffic from the basepaths by throwing out four would-be base stealers.
The Dirtbags took the lead in the second inning after Johnson walked and came around to score on a fake bunt attempt that coaxed Longshore into throwing the ball around a bit. Johnson scored the go-ahead run in the fourth inning. Owen Erickson added a hit for Rural Baseball to put Johnson in scoring position.
Rural Baseball Inc. then hosted Competitive Athletics at Castle Rock on Monday, scoring four runs in the seventh to steal away a victory.
Owen Erickson picked up the win in relief for Rural Baseball, going 5 innings with four strikeouts. He entered with the bases full of Athletics in the third and stranded every runner he inherited.
Erickson drove in two runs in the seventh inning with a poke to right field to help him pick up his first ever win on the mound.
Hunter Gutenberger dropped a squeeze bunt to score the winning run in the seventh.
Bayron Rodrigues of Toledo set the tone for RBI early, laying down a pair of sac bunts before bunting for a hit in the seventh inning to bring in the game-tying run.
Classmate Ryan Bloomstrom of Toledo added a hit and led off the seventh with a walk. He also gloved it nice and pretty at shortstop all game long.
“We love playing the boys from the big city with the fancy bat bags,” RBI coach Jordan Nailon said. “We appreciate that they always send down a couple of guys from their AAA Legion team in order to make it a competitive affair.
“Tonight our guys just did the little things right and never rolled over, even when daylight was running short and things looked rather bleak.”
