|
Gold Hawks Regain Tri-State Flight Pattern |
|
Written by Steve DeDoes for Toledo Hawks Baseball
|
|
Monday, 11 July 2011 08:23 |
Ohio Northern Falls in DH Sweep
After losing three of four on the previous holiday weekend, the Toledo "Gold" Hawks got back to their winning ways - getting enough good pitching and timely hitting to take two from the visiting Ohio Northern club on Saturday, July 9. After coming from behind in the first game to win by a 7-4 margin, the Hawks eked out a 2-0 win in the second game of the two in Sylvania.
Kirk Stambaugh (Wayne State/Sylvania) went six innings in the opening contest, and he found himself on the short end of the score after a 3-run second inning put Ohio Northern up, 3-1. However, Stambaugh was able to limit the Northern scoring after that and permit his offense to get the Hawks back in front. Stambaugh allowed seven hits and three walks, but got crucial outs when he needed them, including three strikeouts. Closer Mattie DeDoes (Oberlin/Ann Arbor, MI) was touched for a two-out solo home run in the seventh - but made quick work of the other Northern bats in the final frame, including one by strikeout.
The Hawks scored first, in the bottom of the first. Brett Howard (Siena Heights/Toledo) rapped a two-out single that scored Blake Schmenk (Owens CC/Perrysburg), who had doubled. The Hawks did not chirp again again until the fourth, when Eric Yunker (Ohio Northern/Holland) swatted the first of his two doubles in the game and rode home on R.J. Rios' (Adrian/Toledo) RBI single. Trailing 3-2 in the fifth, the Hawk lineup produced three runs in that inning and tacked on two more in the sixth. Leading off the fifth, Cory Lehman (Siena Heights/Toledo) banged a double and tied the score when Drew Kuns (Bowling Green/Oregon) drove him home with a base hit. Kuns scored on Yunker's second double, with a hit from Eric Croak (Toledo/Toledo) sandwiched in between.
The sixth inning began with a single from Ryan Williams (Tiffin/Maumee); Mike Lollo (Siena Heights/Allen Park, MI) sacrificed Williams, and then a single from Lehman was followed by 2-out walks to Kunz and Howard. Another run came in on Croak's single, completing the Hawk scoring and giving DeDoes a cushion for the top of the seventh. Yunker's two doubles led the lineup for the game, and Lehman, Rios, and Kuns also had two hits.
Kuns also collected two hits in the second game, the first an opening-inning double that moved Schmenk (single) to third - where he subsequently scored on Howard's groundout. That would be the only run the Hawks needed, though they tacked on another tally in the third when Lehman walked and ended up scoring on a wild pitch. The Hawks had only five hits in the game, but Hawk hurlers allowed only three - though they did combine to issue six walks and hit two batters.
Zak Esposito (Owens CC/Sandusky) induced a 5-4-3 double play in the fourth inning to keep Ohio Northern scoreless in his 4-inning, 2 strikeout stint. Esposito notched his team-leading 6th win, and turned the game over to Ricky Volante (Lake Erie/Tappahannock, VA), who went went the final three innings. Volante worked out of jams in each of the final two innings, loading the bases with two out in the 6th and putting two on with no out in the 7th. However, Volante nailed down his second save of the summer and allowed the Hawks to walk off the field with two wins that kept them among the upper echelon of teams in the Tri-State League with a 16-6 mark.
|
