by Max Edelman
It’s Kaolis Delacruz who opens the scoring for Division! He connects on a two out, two run single to left!
2-0 Division, heading to the bottom of the third. pic.twitter.com/LQUe3B3i8o
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 15, 2024
The Division Blue Dragons, fueled by a seven RBI game Kaolis Delacruz, cruised past the Calhoun Colts 12-3 on the road on Monday. April. 15. After two scoreless frames, the Dragons finally exploded, scoring all 12 of their runs in the final five innings of the game.
The big game for Delacruz came on numerous different hits in a number of different spots. Delacruz’s first two RBIs came on a single in the third inning. His third RBI came on a single in the fifth inning. But the biggest play for Delacruz came in the sixth, when he connected on a three RBI base clearing double with two outs. Already with six, Delacruz would add lucky number seven on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh.
The pitching matchup to open the game was between Calhoun senior Danny Goodman and Division senior Matt Marino. Through the first two innings of the game, despite both teams having opportunities to breakthrough, the score remained deadlocked at zero. That was until the top of the third inning when the Dragons opened the scoring when a Delacruz single drove in two. In the bottom half of the frame, the Colts cut the lead in half on a Danny Goodman single.
With the score tied 2-1 after three innings of play, it seemed to be that every time Division would score, Calhoun would answer right back, When Division’s Matt Hartmann drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the top half of the fourth to put the Dragons back up by two, it only took Calhoun half an inning to answer back.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning where Division was finally able to break the game open as between the fifth and sixth, the Dragons were able to score six unanswered, effectively sealing the victory for themselves. Outside of Delacruz, who had seven RBI’s in the contest, Isaiah Marino had two, while Caiden Siegel, Matt Bolton and Hartmann each drove in one. The winning pitcher for the Dragons was Matt Marino, who Through 5.2 innings, struck out seven and allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits. Halfway through the sixth inning, Marino was relieved by Trevor Martin, who pitched the remaining inning and a third.
For the Colts, the starter on the mound, Danny Goodman struggled throughout much of the game. In 4.2 innings, Goodman struck out two and allowed five runs on eight hits. Despite the struggles to get outs for the Colts, they had no shortage of chances, as Calhoun recorded eight hits, but left eight men on base. Much like the Colts, the Dragons also left eight men on.
Of the nine Division starting position players, six got hits in the game. Of those six, five had multi hit performances. Those five include all four hitters in the top four of the order.
The two teams will play again tomorrow, with the game this time shifting to Division. First pitch is once again set for 5 p.m.
