Eagles driven bats by Hubs

April 30, 1999|By JACK HILL III

North Hagerstown baseball coach Shawn Reynolds knew his team's offense would eventually turn around this season.

It seems the waiting game is over.

The Hubs turned on several pitches from Francis Scott Key on Friday, pounding out 14 hits to produce three big innings in an 11-6 victory over the Eagles in the Monocacy Valley Athletic League.

"We swung the bats well," Reynolds said. "It is probably the best that we swung the bats as a team for a while. The hitters have started to come around during the last couple of days. We're getting contributions from everybody in the lineup. Since the beginning of the season, quite a few of the hitters have shown improvement."

Cleanup hitter Joe McGhee went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, and Scott Keasey, Tater Russ, Frankie McAllister, David Hobbs and Josh Barnes all had two hits for the Hubs (5-10, 5-8).

North got six hits in a row to start the first inning to take a 5-0 lead.

Keasey singled to right, Russ singled to center and McAllister drove in both of them with a double to center. McGhee then reached on an infield single, and McAllister scored on a throwing error on the play. After Hobbs singled to center, Barnes followed with an RBI single to center.

After Francis Scott Key (1-15, 1-12) reduced the deficit to 5-3, North scored three runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 8-3.

Andy Shrader led off for the Hubs with a single to center with one out, took second on a wild pitch and came home on Keasey's triple to right. Russ hit a sacrifice fly to center to knock in Keasey. McAllister singled to center and scored on a triple to right by McGhee.

After the Eagles narrowed the gap to 8-5, the Hubs added three more runs in the sixth to raise their lead to 11-5.

Keasey, Russ and McAllister drew one-out walks to load the bases. McGhee hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Keasey. On that same play, Russ came around to score and McAllister advanced to third on three throwing errors.

McAllister eventually scored on a balk.

|

|

|