Quakers slip past Griffins for win
MILLVILLE — In a back-and-forth game that saw six lead changes, Millville played small ball to come up with a big walk-off win over Sullivan County in high school baseball.
The Quakers, having no extra-base hits in the contest, knew it was the right place, right time to get the job done. They struck for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to win, 13-12.
Jacob Fought helped his cause on the mound by working a leadoff walk before the Quakers’ No. 9 hitter, Hayden Weaver got on via hit by pitch. Showing aggressiveness all afternoon, the Quakers didn’t let up, having Patrick Stefan load the bases with a bunt single.
They closed the deficit to within one with Caden Temple working a bases-loaded walk — the team’s ninth base on balls of the contest. That led to a pitching change for the Griffins, who opted to go with Kruz McCusker to face the heart of the order.
First man up, Landon Evans, timed him up during warm-ups perfectly, nearly ending the game on the first pitch he threw with a liner that was just foul to left. Evans, though, still got the job done, singling in Weaver and the fast-paced Stefan, who slid ahead of the tag for the game-winning score.
“I wanted to go back up there and hit hard somewhere in the outfield again,” Evans said of his approach after fouling off the first pitch. “... He didn’t really throw much offspeed when he warmed up, so I was just waiting on that fastball and he threw it and I slipped it through.”
Evans finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. The only other Quaker with multiple RBIs was Temple, getting his other with a sacrifice fly as part of a 1-for-1 day.
For coach Brian Albertson, he saw the potential of the win with the scenario the Quakers were entering after giving up a four-spot in the top half of the seventh. Much of the Griffins’ rally was highlighted by Evan Cummings’ double — the only extra-base hit of the day — to right-center to score two after a leadoff walk and infield error.
“I was going to make them throw strikes with where we were at in the order and with the pressure on them a little bit,” Albertson said. “They’ve been struggling a little bit like we have and it was a huge game for both of us. I knew if we got a guy on, and put a little bit of pressure on the pitcher, all we had to do was see what happens.”
That pressure was on both defenses all afternoon. With the weather conditions a bit windy and chilly, both teams were forced to play station-to-station. While the Quakers worked nine walks, the Griffins finished with eight. Between all that, they both moved up on a great deal of balls to the backstop and took the extra base on errors or hits. They also stole their fair share of bases. The Quakers collectively swiped 10 bases while the Griffins had nine.
That aggressiveness also led to a few baserunning blemishes, including Stefan being gunned down at home to end the second.
Albertson was excited with the outcome and is optimistic about what the Quakers can look like if they find a way to play consistently in all fazes, including getting strikes from the pitching staff.
“We always seem to give up runs in the first inning and have battled back in some games this year,” he said. “We can be a tough team to beat. When we hit well, we aren’t playing the best defense, when we play good defense, we don’t hit. If we put it all together, we’re going to be a solid team. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
The Quakers, who had eight come around to score at least once, struck for runs in six innings. They also stranded some insurance, leaving eight runners in scoring position, including the bases loaded in the third, fifth and sixth.
On the flip side, Millville also worked itself out of some pressure-packed situations, leaving eight Griffins in scoring position and the bases loaded twice.
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