The Chuckey-Doak basbeall team picked up win number one on the young season on Monday with an 18-3 beating of South Greene in Lower Afton.
“It’s nice to get a win. I don’t think we played particularly well. They gave us a lot of free base runners and we gave them a lot of base runners. I don’t think our pitching was very competitive tonight. Crum came in and did a pretty good job and was efficient,” Black Knights Head Coach Jacob Willett said. “I don’t think we played particularly well and we’re not satisfied. We’ve got to keep getting better.”
The Black Knights collected 14 hits and drew eight walks in a dominant District 1-2A win over their county rival.
The fourth inning changed everything. The Rebels were only trailing 6-3 midway through the fourth before Chuckey-Doak exploded for 12 runs in the fourth inning. Nine singles, three walks, and two hit by pitches occurred in the frame. The explosion put the run rule in effect and put South Greene in too deep of a hole to climb out of.
Chuckey-Doak’s leadoff man Kiptyn Ball had himself a day. Ball went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and one run. Second baseman Gavin Crum had a stellar day also going 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two runs, and a walk. Crum pitched two innings and gave up one hit and collected three strikeouts.
“They swung it pretty well today. Kiptyn had a really good day at the plate today. Came up with a couple of big hits for us in timely spots. Then Gavin came in in his second outing of the year and it was a lot better than his first one,” Willett expressed.
Braxton Lowe went 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs and three runs and a walk. Lynkin Cutshaw went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs, and a walk.
Charlie Lane led the Rebels with a 3-for-3 game and helped score all three runs, but only got credited with one RBI because of an error.
Chuckey-Doak improved to 1-3 (1-0) with the win. South Greene dropped to 0-2 (0-1) with the loss.
Chuckey-Doak might’ve dominated, but South Greene threatened early. The Rebels loaded the bases with Dawson Ripley and Charlie Lane’s singles and Eli Fillers’ walk, but struck out and flew out to end the opening frame with no runs.
The Black Knights began with a Kiptyn Ball single in the leadoff spot followed by Collin Bishop’s hit by pitch. Two batters later Randall Sauceman drove both runners in with an error on South Greene’s part. Chuckey-Doak led 2-0 after the first inning.
South Greene once again loaded the bases in the top of the second and did damage this time. Pablo Rosario walked, Cameron Kinser was hit by a pitch, and Dawson Ripley walked. This set up Charlie Lane with an opportunity to make something happen. The senior outfielder laced a hit into left field that helped score all three runs and cleared the bases. Lane was only credited with one RBI though because of the error that occurred. South Greene stole the lead away and led 3-2 in the middle of the second.
The lead didn’t last long as Chuckey-Doak jumped back in front 4-3. Gavin Crum walked to begin the bottom half and Kiptyn Ball drove him to the plate with an RBI-single. Mason Henderson walked later and was driven in with Cooper Seay’s RBI-double.
Kiptyn Ball helped cushion Chuckey-Doak’s lead with an RBI-double to give the Knights a 6-3 advantage. Ball scored Braxton Lowe and Lynkin Cutshaw with the hit.
The explosion in the fourth inning began with Mason Henderson’s single into center. Cooper Seay flew into a fielder’s choice and took Henderson’s spot on base. Ben Palazzo was hit by a pitch and Randall Sauceman singled to load the bases.
The next eight at bats resulted in a run scored. Braxton Lowe singled, Cooper Seay scored. Lynkin Cutshaw singled, Ben Palazzo scored. Gavin Crum singled, courtesy runner Hudson Cox scored. Dom Atchison was hit by a pitch, Braxton Lowe scored. Kiptyn Ball singled, Lynkin Cutshaw scored. The Black Knights batted through the lineup and made it back to Mason Henderson and he walked and Gavin Crum scored. Cooper Seay walked and Dom Atchison scored. Ben Palazzo singled, Kiptyn Ball scored.
The eight-straight at bats with a scoring play ended, but the scoring didn’t. Braxton Lowe delivered a 2-RBI single and scored Henderson and Seay. Crum scored Palazzo with an RBI-single to finish the 12-run onslaught.
Gavin Murray came in for relief in the end and struck out three-straight Rebels to close it out.
Chuckey-Doak finished with an 18-3 victory over South Greene at home in their conference opener. Both teams will meet again on Tuesday at 5:00 at South Greene High School.
