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Senators Win Mismatched Battle Against Pirates |
July 24, 2008. Fairfax, Va. -- The Carney Pirates are the newest and youngest team in the Clark-Griffith League. They have played a partial schedule this year, playing only 16 games. The team is dominated by rising college freshmen, many using wood bats for the first time in their careers. Thursday night they ran into the CGL's most dominant team, the Vienna Senators, and were clearly overmatched. The Senators showcased a potent offense in defeating the Pirates 12-1.
The Pirates were undone by some wild pitching and poor fielding. The team walked 6 batters, threw 8 wild pitches, and committed 4 errors. The Senators offense was able to capitalize on the litany of Pirates errors.
“As hitters, you have to try and narrow the strike zone down into halves and sit on inner half or outer half,” said center fielder Kevin Hall.
The Pirates started the game with three consecutive hits off of Senators starter Kyle Hald. Matt Snyder put the Pirates ahead 1-0 with an RBI single.
However, the Senators offense roared to life in the third inning. Hall started the scoring with a solo home run to left field, only his second of the season. Hall, who has hit at the bottom of the order for both the Senators and his college team Wichita State, has been more of a threat to bunt this season than drive the ball.
“I know that the job of the nine-hole hitter is to get on base and let the lineup turn over,” said Hall. “I think that when I hit a home run, it needs to be a mistake on my part. Getting on base is fine for me, because then I can steal some bases and make some things happen.”
Seth Henry doubled and then scored a run in the inning. Nick Kuroczko had an RBI single in the inning as well. The team then scored runs in each of the next four innings.
Hald made his fourth start of the season, having been the team's long reliever for most of the season. Hald settled in nicely after his rough first inning. He pitched five strong innings, allowing only one run on four hits. He struck out eight batters.
“I changed my motion a little after that first inning,” said Hald. “I wasn't using my lower half that last inning, and that was working for me.”
The Pirates needed 5 pitchers to make it through the nine innings. Each pitcher was hampered by his inability to throw consistent strikes. Senators base runners were alert, and took advantage on wild pitches, dropped fly balls, and other assorted errors.
It was a much-needed easy victory for the Senators. The team has been in a brutal stretch of games over the past two weeks, filled with close games.
The Senators bullpen, which has struggled a little bit over this stretch, was dominant Thursday night. Ryan Schwenke, Chad Johnson, Mason Griffin, and Jimmy Duggan all pitched scoreless innings in relief. Combined, they allowed only two base runners in their four innings of work.
The Pirates' youth was clear in a game of this magnitude. The team will play in the CGL full-time next summer. They should be much improved with their young talent gaining a year of college seasoning.
Even though this game was not a close match, there is reason to think that these two teams may be playing for an even bigger prize next year: the CGL championship. Hald, who played on a summer team with many of the Pirates' players last year, certainly knows of the raw talent that they possess.
“They have a lot of skills,” said Hald. “They play together well, and when they grow up they're going to be great.”
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators