(April 3, 2015) The Stephen Decatur baseball team played back-to-back-to-back games this week and the Seahawks earned three wins over Bayside Conference opponents.
Decatur traveled up the road to take on the Snow Hill Eagles on Monday. The Seahawks came home with a 10-0 shutout. Senior Austin Dundore led the team with two hits and three RBIs.
Freshman Tristan McDonough threw five innings. He struck out 11 and gave up one hit. Senior Brooks Holloway pitched two innings. He struck out two Eagles.
“We continue to pitch and play good defense,” Decatur Coach Rich Ferro said. “We need to cut down on strikeouts and put pressure on the defenses. Hopefully this will improve in the near future.”
The next day, Decatur took a trip to Salisbury to battle the Parkside Rams. Both teams’ players were not only competing in front of their fans, but some Major League Baseball scouts as well. Several players on the Decatur and Parkside teams are headed to Division I colleges to play baseball.
“There was a lot of emotion going on,” Ferro said.
Decatur fought back from a 3-0 deficit on Tuesday to win 4-3.
Parkside scored its three runs in the second inning.
“It was four walks, a fielder’s choice where they scored and then a throwing error that scored two runs,” Ferro said. “[Senior pitcher] Grant [Donahue] got a little wild. He was struggling with repeating his delivery, but the best thing was, his composure was great. It seemed like even though he was struggling to find the plate, he was very mature and was still competing.”
Decatur trailed 3-2 going into the seventh inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, Dundore hit the ball up the middle to give Decatur a 4-3 lead.
Decatur senior pitcher Brandon McKenzie took the mound in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs, he struck out the final batter to earn the save.
Donahue threw the first four innings. Junior Will Sass came in for two innings and was credited with the win.
“We have the same approach to every game. It’s try to stay level headed, try to win the next inning and stay in it,” Ferro said. “I’m proud of them facing a guy [Hunter Parsons] throwing 88-92 miles an hour all day. They put some good swings on him, had some decent approaches, he walked a couple guys, we hit a couple balls that, were not well hit, but they found holes.”
The Seahawks hosted the James M. Bennett Clippers the next day.
The visiting Clippers took a 1-0 lead in the first. Decatur answered and tacked on 12 additional runs to lead 13-1 by the fourth inning. The Berlin squad won 13-3 in five innings (slaughter rule) on their home field Wednesday.
“I thought they played pretty well. We came out a little bit flat after the game yesterday [and with] not a lot of energy,” Ferro said. “You’re playing Parkside [the day before], you play a big game and the next game you’re tired, just mentally tired.”
Senior Sean Colgan threw five innings. He struck out eight, allowed three hits and walked one. Junior Zach Adams went 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Donahue was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
Decatur is scheduled to play the Wi-Hi Indians on Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Berlin.
“We’re just trying to progress and keep on throwing strikes and hopefully get better approaches against pitchers,” Ferro said. “Just take it game by game and get better.”
