by Gabe Zoda
Baseball can end up being a game of runs, and this game between the Kings Park Knights and Mayhem Baseball definitely showed this. This game would end up only going 4 innings with a final score of 15-5.
It started pretty good for the Kings Park Knights as they took the first game of the DH and started off the 2nd game well after they scored 2 runs in the first inning.
Noah Padilla, the leadoff batter for the Knights, started things off with a single. He would then steal 2nd and 3rd to get himself in a perfect spot to score. Dylan Schor sealed the deal one batter later with an RBI single to center field.
Dylan stole 2nd and then moved over to 3rd on a groundout. This put him in a spot to score on almost anything. That opportunity would present himself in the form of a passed ball, and he took it. That run would give them a 2-0 lead but that lead wouldn’t last very long.
Kings Park gets things going quick after this RBI Single by Dylan Schor. Score is 2-0 in the top of the 1st. pic.twitter.com/crIFAKWeER
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 2, 2021
That lead would only last until the bottom of the first. Mayhem baseball were looking to take the second game and they had the foot on the pedal from the start.
Brady Kalkau started by reaching on a HBP and then stole 2nd showing that getting hit wasn’t going to stop him from getting into scoring position.
That would set up shop for Ethan Mann, the WP for this game. He ripped a long shot to the left side of the field that would easily score Brady. As the play kept developing, Ethan didn’t stop running either. All of a sudden Ethan was rounding 3rd and coming home. He would be safe at the plate and secure the inside-the-park HR to tie things up at 2 but they weren’t done yet.
Next came a barrage of hits, Hayden Tepper, Ben Grabov, and Gavin Jurek hit singles and Kurt Rauschenbach had a 2B. All of that combined for two more runs to come in with 2 men still on base. After that barrage of hits, the lead went to 4-2 in favor of Mayhem. After a couple of walks from Anthony Provviseiro and Tommy Terzulli, one final run would be walked in and the score would get up to 5-2.
Mayhem responds BIG in the bottom half of the 1st, they put up 5 RUNS to take the lead over the Knights. One of those runs came on this smart baserunning by Kurt Raushenbach. Mayhem up 5-2 after 1. pic.twitter.com/CYIfezZjZ7
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 2, 2021
Once they got that lead, Mayhem would not look back and kept the foot on the pedal. Both squads didn’t score in the 2nd but in the 3rd inning, the action would kick right back up. And it was all in favor of the Mayhem.
In this inning, they would plate 7 players to bolster their lead to 12-2 in favor of Mayhem. Every player who reached ended up scoring. It started with 3 quality at bats that led to walks to Tyson Sirota, Anthony Provviseiro, and Tommy Terzulli. This loaded up the bases for the top of the order. The two top of the order batters, Brady Kalkau and Ethan Mann both walked as well.
The first hit of the inning for Mayhem happened a couple of batters later. Spencer Bashian knocked a 2 RBI single and right after him Ben Grabov knocked home an RBI single. He then stole all the way around and scored on a passed ball himself. All of that offense ended up counting for 7 runs and a 10 run lead but Kings Park wasn’t going to get run-ruled without a fight.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Kings Park would score 3 runs to make it 12-5. They did this in a variety of ways. They started this inning with 2 walks from Chris Schor and Anthony Germano. Chris stole 2nd base and also stole 3rd as well. When he stole 3rd, the throw was off from the catcher and allowed him to score all the way from 2nd. Jeremy Rossi then came in and got a base hit. Another passed ball would allow another runner to come in and the 3rd run came in the form of a ground out that scored Jeremy Rossi.
Going into the 4th inning, Mayhem weren’t ready to win by 7, they wanted mercy and they would get it in the top of the 4th. They did it by walking and a passed ball to give them the 15-5 score and the victory.
Ethan Mann would get the win on the mound as he threw for 2+ innings and got a couple of strikeouts on the way as well.
