By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
So far this season the heavy-hitting Washington One Senior Babe Ruth baseball team has not played past the fifth inning in any of its first three games. That trend continued on Monday as it topped its neighborhood counterparts Washington Two by the score of 22-4 in five innings.
Both teams hit the ball hard on Monday, but Washington One’s hits always seemed to find a hole and produce runs.
Washington One (3-0) slugged 18 hits, as just about every player in the lineup scored and produced a run.
Rising junior Will Gurganus had a big night, roping two opposite field singles that produced a team-high three RBIs.
Christian Leggett led Washington One with three hits, while driving in two runs. Caleb Hines, Jake Duke and Kevin Sparks each ended the night with two RBIs a piece.
Washington One coach Joey Duke said the key for his team is that they enjoy what they’re doing.
“The guys are just having fun,” Duke said. “We talked about it the first day of the season. I told them I got 13 good ball players and can only play nine at a time; so we just try to work everybody into the games. … So far everybody has been pleased, everybody is getting along great and having fun.”
Washington Two (0-3) got on the board first after Washington One starting pitcher Will Swain walked the first two batters before Ryan Hardison blasted a two-run single to left field to take a 2-0 lead.
Washington One countered with a three-run rally in the bottom of the first as it hit Washington Two starter Avery Woolard hard in the early portion of the game.
After a Brandon Marsh double, Jake Duke followed up with an RBI double, which was backed by a Swain RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. Gurganus drove in the third run a few batters later to score Swain and take a 3-2 advantage.
Washington Two, which sports a younger roster and is viewed by both coaches as the kid brother to Washington One, tied the game up on a Nick Lietz RBI single. However, Washington Two would only produce one more run the rest of the game.
While Washington Two cooled down, Washington One caught fire and ripped open the contest with an eight-run rally in the second inning to give Swain more than enough support earn the win.
Swain, the Pam Pack’s second baseman, missed the end of the regular season due to a finger injury, but looked comfortable on the mound in his three innings of work on Monday.
“It was the first time he had been on the bump for us this year,” Duke said. “It took him a few batters to get himself right but he settled down and did a good job on the hill.”
Swain, along with pitchers Caleb Hines and Michael Robinson combined to hold Washington Two to three hits on the night.
In the end, the experience of Washington One was too great for Washington Two to overcome.
“We are just trying to develop players for the future over here,” Washington Two coach Troy Woolard said. “We threw three relatively new pitchers throwing against a real well-hitting team. … Even though we lost, I thought we played really well as a team.”
Both teams will be back in action on Wednesday as Washington One hosts Kiwanus, while Washington Two will travel to North Pitt.
Washington Two 210 01X X — 4 4 3
Washington One 382 9XX X — 22 18 3