Published Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:32 AM
Updated Tuesday, April 29, 2008 9:33 AM

 

Stags advance with 15-0 slugfest

There were almost too many hits to count.

Anchored by a 6-run second and a 7-run fourth inning, senior Thomas Kizer and Taylor Brewer combined to shut our Richland Northeast 15-0 in losers bracket action Saturday night at James Bradley Field.

The Stags batted around in both the second and fourth innings, scoring their runs in two decidedly different fashions.

In the second, Berkeley lashed out 7 hits, 6 of them singles in playing station-to-station baseball. In the fourth, the Stags played a little long ball as recent Citadel signee Nick Orvin added a 2-run homer to his second-inning double to highlight the 7-run fourth.

For Stags coach Shane Todd tonight’s win carried a familiar theme: the play of his seniors.

“Tonight our seniors stepped it up,” he said. “We were pretty disappointed in our play against Sumter and it was important that we come off the deck and put some runs on the board early.”

The big hit that opened the floodgates for Berkeley in the second was a high-hopping single up the middle by DH Tyler Still that just evaded the diving glove of Cavalier second baseman Brett Fulmer.

“We were able to get it all started because one of our seniors, Tyler Still, fought off some good pitches and was able to put one in play,” Todd said.

The high-hopping tweener plated Cam Sessions who led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on Brad Barwick’s sacrifice bunt. Marcus Bartley followed with another single up the middle and the Stags set about playing fundamental station-to-station baseball.

Thomas Brittle’s single to right scored Still and sent Bartley to third. One out later, Orvin delivered the inning’s big blow, a line drive double down the leftfield line that one-hopped the fence at the 315 sign. Kyle Shepherd plated Orvin with a single to left and then scored on Bryce Baur’s double to the gap in right.

That gave Kizer all the runs he’d need, though the senior southpaw ran into some difficulty pitching out of a bases loaded jam in the third, a second and third jam in the fourth, before being lifted with one-out in the fifth.

“Thomas is one of those big lefties that is just hard to hit,” Todd said. “His fastball has good movement and he’s tall so there’s a lot of arm action. When he hits his spots, he’s tough to beat.”

In the fourth, the Stags blew the doors off the barn, plating 7 runs highlighted by Orvin’s 2-run shot, his 11th on the season.

Shepherd started the inning off with a walk, Baur reached on an error and both scored on Sessions’ double down the right field line. Following a walk and an error, Michael Dangerfield’s 2-RBI double plated Bartley and Brittle. Orvin then followed with his big fly to left to close out the scoring.

The Stags were set to play the winner of the Sumter – Summerville match up on Monday night. If Sumter wins, and at press time they led Summerville 3-1 in the sixth, the Stags will play host. If Summerville prevailed then the Stags hit the road. First pitch is at 7 p.m.

The winner of Monday night’s game will advance to the District 8 championship game and a ticket to the next round of the state tournament.