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Hawks' Gold Spreads The Riches; Sweep Begins Season |
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Written by Steve DeDoes for Toledo Hawks Baseball
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Monday, 06 June 2011 07:38 |
The Toledo Hawks "Gold" squad opened their 2011 summer season in Chardon, Ohio with two games against the Chardon Blizzard. Winning by scores of 8-1 and 5-1, the Gold Hawks followed a similar script in each game against the Blizzard, a new team for 2011 in the Tri-State Collegiate League. Hawks pitching was solid, and the lineup produced 28 hits on the day as close games were broken wide open by late Hawk barrages.
In game one, starting pitcher Brett Kuebler (Siena Heights/Toledo) yielded only a first-inning run on his way to a five-inning stint that saw him allow five hits, with two strikeouts against one walk. His victory was capped by closer Jimmie Shaw (Lake Erie/Holland), who allowed two hits in the sixth but finished the game by fanning the last two Blizzard hitters. The contest was taut until the back end of the game when three Hawk runs in the fifth, along with three more in the seventh, allowed the Hawks to soar to their first win.
Catcher Steve DiNanno (Oberlin/Northbrook, IL) helped to start the scoring in the first when his long, first inning triple allowed him to ride home on R.J. Rios' (Adrian/Toledo) flared single to right. DiNanno then brought home leadoff hitter Cory Lehman (Siena Heights/Rossford) with a third-inning groundout; Lehman had reached second after an infield error, then moved to third on a passed ball.
A Brett Howard (Siena Heights/Toledo) RBI single and a two-run single by Ryan Williams (Tiffin/Maumee) keyed the fifth-inning rally, and Eric Croak's (Toledo/Toledo) two-run double and an RBI single by Mattie DeDoes (Oberlin/Ann Arbor, MI) completed the scoring in the seventh. Multi-hit games were put up by RF Croak (3 singles to go with his double); Rios, Howard, DeDoes (who added a long 2B to right-center), and Mike Lollo (Siena Heights/Allen Park, MI) all had two hits each.
While the second game played out in similar fashion to the first, it remained tighter as the host Blizzard were able to chill the Gold Hawks early on. The Hawks pecked away for a first-inning tally when shortstop Lehman led off the game with a single and ended up on second after a rightfield error. Rios brought him home with a one-out single. Again, the Hawks nested a single run in the third frame when Williams opened with a single, moved up on a Lollo single and a bunt by Travis Mielcarek (Siena Heights/Toledo), and scored on a bloop hit by Levi Pauli (Defiance/Ottawa Lake, MI).
And, like the first game, a three-run seventh inning melted the Blizzard hopes. It was Eric Croak (who went 4-4 in this contest) doing the honors with a bases-loaded double to left-center field; his blast allowed closer Ricky Volante (Lake Erie/Tappahannock, VA) to spread his wings over the final two innings, notching a save for winning starting pitcher Kirk Stambaugh (Wayne State/Sylvania). Stambaugh worked the first five innings, touched for a single run in the fifth; he allowed four hits while striking out four. He was also helped by some solid defensive play, most notably a double play in the first where leftfielder Lollo threw a strike to catcher Croak to nail a runner tagging from third. Lollo and Howard, with two hits each, also joined Croak in the multi-hit club.
With the opening-day sweep the Gold Hawks, of course, are 2-0.
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