Arend Grand in 12-8 Win
The Redlegs stumbled down the stretch a bit, going 1-4 in their final 5 games entering the postseason. Amid the slump, they won an exciting contest against the Wright Knights on Tuesday, August 16th. Camden jumped out early and survived a late Knight rally to preserve the win under the lights at Oak Grove Park.
The Knights struck first when Zac Gomia launched a solo home run over the left field fence to start the game, but the Redlegs tied things right back up in the bottom half. Jacob Robinson singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Hartman.
The Redlegs then took the lead in the 2nd when Tyler Eaton and Matt Mattice each singled and both scored on RBI base hits by Eric Jameson and James Robinson.
After the Knights scored again in the 3rd to make it a 3-2 game, Camden scraped another run together in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 4-2 advantage. Kyle Arend doubled with two outs and would later score on an RBI single by Mike Hartman.
The 4th is when it looked like Camden put the game away. Already leading 4-2, they scored 7 times in the frame to take a commanding 11-2 lead. Brad Malott worked a walk to start the rally, followed by a base hit by Matt Mattice and a run scoring single by Eric Jameson. Cody Saraco-Polner walked to load the bases, leading to an RBI base hit by James Robinson. Jacob Robinson then walked to re-load the bases, but then the Knights were able to create a force out at home to prevent a run. Kyle Arend then strode to the plate and promptly blasted a grand slam that sailed over the left field fence.
The Knights weren’t about to go down without a fight and proceeded to score 4 times in the 5th and 2 more times in the 6th to cut their deficit to 3 runs. Brad Malott entered for Camden in the 6th frame and silenced the rally, striking out two batters and inducing a groundout to 3rd base.
Kyle Arend struck again in the 7th, giving Camden a little cushion. After two strikeouts started the inning for the Redlegs, Kyle played at de ja vu as he hit a strikingly similar home run to make it a 12-8 game.
Malott finished off the game without incident to record his first career save.