TodayHigh School Baseball: Greyhounds find bats against Carlisle
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Article RatingSHIPPENSBURG — Those Shippensburg Greyhounds can hit the ball, after all.
Two days after managing just four hits in a 7-2 victory over Greencastle, the Greyhounds batted .464 as a team (13-for-28) and exploded for 13 hits in Friday afternoon’s 9-2 victory over the Carlisle Thundering Herd.
Ship got big contributions from Kyle Plasterer (3-for-3, 2 runs, RBI), Patrick Davis (2-for-4, run, 2 RBIs) and Chris Davis (2-for-4, 2 doubles, run), who all had multi-hit outings.
The Hounds (2-0) came into this season with concerns about their hitting.
“Hitting wasn’t our thing last year,” Plasterer said. “We’re making it our thing this year.”
Ship’s offense struck early and often against Carlisle (0-3).
Run-scoring singles from Ricky Ott (1-for-3, 2 RBIs, run) and Justin Varner (1-for-3, RBI) gave the Hounds a 2-0 lead after one inning and a 2-RBI single from Patrick Davis made the score 4-0 after two innings.
“The kids swung the bat well today,” Ship coach Dan Watkins said. “I like the fact that we’re hitting to all fields and hitting behind our runners.”
The Hounds tagged the Herd for another run in the third before erupting for four more runs in the fifth to bring its advantage to 9-0.
Watkins said, “Our pitchers aren’t used to having this many runs to work with.”
It was a solid day for Varner, Ship’s starting pitcher. The senior right-hander allowed just one hit over five scoreless innings while striking out four and stranding six Carlisle runners, four of whom were in scoring position. Varner wasn’t perfect, but he found ways to work around his three walks and two hit batters.
Looking at it from Carlisle’s side, it was a promising, yet trying day for the Carlisle offense.
Leadoff batter Drew Somma stung a single up the middle to start the game, but was erased from the basepaths when the next batter grounded into a double play.
In the second inning, the Herd’s Derrick Mease was at second with no outs, but three straight outs ended the frame with Carlisle coming up empty.
Herd No. 9 batter Tyler Weary (1-for-1, RBI, sacrifice bunt) found himself on third base in the third inning, but his teammates couldn’t find a way to push him across the plate.
Noticing a trend?
Carlisle had runners on base in every inning, but didn’t get onto the board until the sixth inning, when it touched Ship reliever March Tighe for two runs on two hits.
All in all, the Herd left 11 men on base, eight of whom were in scoring position.
“We’re struggling with guys in scoring position,” Herd coach Brett Livingston said. “We need to take the things we do at practice and apply them to the game.”
Livingston added, “We started 0-3 this week, I hope the guys haven’t given up on the season, because I haven’t given up on them.”
Carlisle takes on Central Dauphin at home on Tuesday in a 4 p.m. matchup.
The Hounds will try to keep their undefeated record intact when they travel to James Buchanan on Monday. First pitch is at 4:15.
“We’re getting hits with our baserunners on second and third,” Plasterer said. “And with the way our pitchers are throwing right now, four or five runs a game should usually get us a win.”
NOTES: Ship has outscored its opponents 16-4 in two games this season ... Carlisle, on the other hand, has been outscored 22-7 in its three losses ... Coach Livingston is still trying to finalize his pitching rotation before division play starts. “We’ve got 12 pitchers on our team and lots of young arms on our staff,” Livingston said. “But whether one or two of those guys develops has yet to be seen.”
