Redlegs Can't Cash In, Fall 15-7
The Redlegs took a rough loss in their third game of the season against the Wild Boars, falling by a final score of 15 to 7.
Luke Campbell made his first start of his Redlegs career and was hit with an undeserved loss, as the defense was shaky behind him from the start, committing three errors in the opening frame. Luke recovered well though, and he kept the Redlegs in the game through 4 2/3 innings as he allowed only 2 hits and struck out 8.
Despite the rocky start, the Boars were only able to manage two unearned runs and the Redlegs cut the lead in half in the 2nd and took the lead in the 3rd. In the 2nd, Nick Davis reached on a fielder’s choice and later came around to score on a scorching one hopper off the bat of James Robinson that was too hot for the Boars 3rd baseman to handle. Mike Hartman then laced a two out two run single in the 3rd to give the Redlegs a 3-2 lead.
Matt Redman added a little help for his starter in the 4th, making a full extension diving snag deep in the hole at short and was able to get to his feet and fire a bullet to first barely beating the baserunner.
The wheels fell off in the 5th. After Campbell left the game with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 5th, the Boars jumped all over the Redleg bullpen as they scored 7 times in the 5th and 4 more in the 6th.
Kyle Arend drove in a couple of runs with a double in the bottom of the 5th, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Joey Watson as the Redleg offense showed some life and tried to fight their way back into the game.
The Redlegs got another nice play from their short stop, this time Kyle Arend, in the 6th inning as he made a diving catch on a line drive that looked certain to sail into left field for a base hit.
Joey Watson entered the game in the 7th and held the Boars offense at bay over the final three frames, allowing only 1 earned while recording 3 punch-outs. But the offense could only muster up one more run, another RBI base hit by Watson, and eventually went down quietly in their first loss of 2018. Matt Mattice extended his career best 14 game hit streak in the loss.