South Hagerstown's win begins, ends with Hamilton

April 09, 2008|By CHRIS CARTER

South Hagerstown pitcher Tim Hamilton had a limited dialogue during a seventh-inning visit with his pitching coach Tuesday afternoon.

After surrendering a two-out walk, the Rebels senior simply wanted to end the game on his own terms.

"I just said the game was over," Hamilton said, "I was going to end it on the next pitch."

Hamilton induced the game-ending fielder's choice for the complete game, helping the No. 4 Rebels to a 5-2 victory to remain undefeated.

"I started with a lot of curveballs, but toward the end it was mostly fastballs," said Hamilton (2-0), who scattered four hits and struck out five. "Coming in to that last inning, my arm started hurting and I just wanted to finish it."

The complete game is the third in a row for Rebels pitchers. Tim Leather went the distance in a come-from-behind win at Frederick on April 2 and Brandon Knight pitched a shutout Monday at Middletown.

"I knew coming in that we were a good hitting team, but we have three solid pitchers," said Rebels coach Ralph Stottlemyer. "The rotation stays the same. It was (Hamilton's) turn to go and he had good stuff."

The Rebels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with just one hit. Smithsburg starter Jake Staebler hit a batter, walked three others and left after just 33 pitches.

Tim Leather had a run-scoring single, Tim Jacobson drew a bases-loaded walk and Todd Jacobson drove in a run on a fielder's choice for the Rebels (5-0).

"Those couple walks, especially early in the game, hurt us," said Smithsburg coach Bill Fowkes. "You can't give a team like South too big a lead."

Jared Daniels entered in relief and gave up three hits and gave up two runs - one earned - over his last 5 2/3 innings.

"He could step in and be that third starter for us," Fowkes said.

Smithsburg was hitless until Bobby Smith singled with two outs in the third inning. The Leopards (2-3) finally cracked the scoreboard in the top of the sixth when Kevin Kocsis drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double by Josh Conway.

Kyle Orndorff doubled and scored on a Joey Shafer sacrifice fly in the seventh for the Leopards, but the tying run was stranded on deck.

"We didn't hit the ball," Fowkes said. "That's been out problem in the last three games."

Leather finished with two hits and Adrian Adams added a run-scoring single for South, which hosts Walkersville today - its third game in as many days.

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