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Mallards Over Senators in Maryland

By DC Wood, 04/19/19, 9:00AM EDT

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The Mallards soared to a second consecutive victory over the Senators Thursday night at Blair, with both offenses producing much more effectively than in their previous meeting to the tune of 11 runs for the Mallards and 6 for the Senators, with 9 of the combined 17 runs coming across in the 8th inning.

However, some of the defense on both sides of the baseball left a bit to be desired. Mallards starting pitcher Brady Adam knew his defense was a bit suspect, so he would have to be incredibly effective at preventing the Senators from putting the ball in play. He did so superbly in his 6 innings pitched, mixing in his sharp fastball with a knee-buckling offspeed, regardless of the count, to the tune of 15 strikeouts, while surrendering only 2 hits, 2 runs, 0 ER, and 6 walks.

Ray Hart toed the rubber for the Senators and was quite effective through the first 7 innings until the Mallards were able to break through on their third time through the order. Hart struck out 9 Mallards across his 7 1/3 IP, allowing 11 hits and walking 3.

The Senators jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the first, capitalizing on a rare catcher’s interference, but the Mallards quickly answered with two of their own, with Gus “Goose” Gill knocking in a run and later scoring on an error. The Sens responded in the next frame with a double off the fence from Edward Reyes, who later scored on an error.

A few quiet, strikeout-heavy innings later the Mallards broke the game open after loading the bases (two singles and reaching base on an error) but quickly clearing them with a deep triple from the "scrappy boy himself," Cam Kostyack. Another run was plated for the Ducks in the 7th after a leadoff walk came back to bite the defense, with Kyle “Billy Hamilton” Schaefer scoring from first on a single by Brian Witkowski.

In the 8th inning, the Senators came knocking after Mallards’ reliever Kevin McGarry (3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 K, 1 BB) surrendered 4 runs (3 earned) allowing the Sens to tie the game up, with the Sens putting the ball in play in the 8th and capitalizing on defensive mishaps. However, in the bottom half of the 8th, another leadoff walk to Kostyack was followed up by 5 hard hit baseballs, including RBI chances from Mallards starter Adam, Schaefer, and Dan “Bop” O’Donnell, as well as other run-scoring opportunities in the form of a balk and another capitalized-upon error. Up 11-6 and heading into the final inning, the Mallards closed the door in the 9th.