Braves are one away from milestone win

May 30, 2009|By JACK HILL III/Staff Correspondent

The Hagerstown Braves got the 999th win in their history Friday night when they defeated the Fayetteville AA's 9-3 at North Hagerstown High School.

The Braves, who came into existence in 1977, get their first shot at No. 1,000 Wednesday night at North when they open Blue Ridge Adult League play against the Myersville Yankees at 6 p.m.

"I think 1,000 wins is exciting," Hagerstown manager Mike Kipe said. "We have been successful every year up to this point. We are just trying to continue that tradition. I think that is a tribute to the county and the area. There is a lot of baseball talent around here. This is where guys come to play when they are done playing legion baseball."

Kipe was pleased about the fact that the Braves did all of the necessary things to win the game.

"If you can get good pitching, good defense and situational hitting, you are going to win a lot," Kipe added. "I thought that we did an excellent job in all three of those areas tonight."

Nathan Minnich banged out three hits for Hagerstown, while Trey Cobb, Keith Kellinger and Chris Palmer added two hits apiece.

The Braves (3-2) led the whole way, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Trey Cobb led off by ripping a triple to right and scored when Trevor Cobb reached on an infield error. Cobb took second on a wild pitch and scored on Minnich's single to left. Minnich came around to score on a wild pitch, an infield single by Kellinger and a throwing error.

The Braves added two runs in the second to boost their lead to 5-0. Palmer led off with an infield single, took second on an errant pickoff attempt and moved to third on a wild pitch. One out later, Palmer scored on a sacrifice fly by Trey Cobb. Trevor Cobb then singled to left and scored on Minnich's double to left.

Fayetteville (3-3) cut the lead to 5-3 with three runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Chris Shearer and a two-run double by Jimmy Byers.

The Braves answered back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. They loaded the bases on three straight walks. One out later, Fred Kreiger hit a two-run double to center. They got two more walks to force home one more run. Another out later, Kreiger scored the final run when he stole home.

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