WIND BLOWS THE BULLDOGS DIRECTION
By Matt Maher
POLAND, OH – The wind was blowing and the bats were hot for the Bulldogs Friday evening when they welcomed Girard to town to close out the season series. Poland struck early and often and left the Indians without much of a response and the result was a 11-4 victory for Poland.
Girard started Ricky Plant who threw out the first 4 innings. The Bulldogs got to him early with the first 2 batters getting on via a walk and being hit by a pitch. Jacob Hayes would step up in the cleanup position and bring in the first run with a RBI single. Ryan Dilullo followed with an RBI groundout, during Dilullos’ at bat a runner scored off of a throwing error from the catcher.
2 more runs got by Plant in the second thanks to an RBI double from Matt Boccieri and an RBI single from Matt Paparodis. No runs would score in the 3rd but 3 more would score in the 4th off of a throwing error, RBI double and a sac fly. Dom Phillips came in for relief giving up 3 more runs in the 5th thanks to 2 RBI singles and a sac fly from the Bulldogs.
Ricky Plant finished with 4IP, 8 runs against, 6 Hits and 4 Walks while Phillips threw 2IP with 3 ER, 2 Hits and 1 K.
Poland started Jacob Hayes who threw 3 innings of scoreless baseball, retiring the side in order twice. The 4th inning was where things got dicey for Hayes because he would eventually allow the basses to fill but miraculously only conceded 1 run off of a RBI walk issued to Kaiden Clare. Hayes started the 5th but gave up 2 more runs thanks to a RBI single from Will Haynes and a RBI double from Nate Freeland. Mike Chambers came in after the RBI double and retired the next 2 batters.
Chambers finished the game giving up 1 run in the 6th to an RBI single from Tyler Wilson and shutting Girard down and out in the top of the 7th. Hayes finished with 4 ⅓ IP giving up 3 Runs off of 5 Hits and striking out 4. Chambers finished with 2 ⅔ IP giving up 1ER off of 3 hits and struck out 3.
The Bulldogs continue to show everyone their dominance inside and out of the Northeast 8 and improved to 9-0 on the season and 6-0 in the conference, their next game will be at Shenango on April 20th at 12PM. Girard (5-7, 2-4) will travel to Salem on April 20th at 12PM.
