NORTH ENGLISH – One thing Montezuma baseball fans probably will agree on – the Braves have been entertaining this summer.
They’re up one night, down the next. But they don’t give up and they don’t stay down!
The Braves produced an 8-7 win over a winless but very competitive English Valleys team on Wednesday evening, June 14.
The victory evened the Braves’ record at 5-5. That sounds modest, but consider that Montezuma was a team that won just one ball game last summer.
The Braves outhit the Bears 12-4, with five different Montezuma players having two hits each.
That included catcher Cruz De Jong, who hit the team’s first home run of the season. That was a solo shot, but he also stole a base during the night’s proceedings.
Garrett Watts had two hits, both of them doubles, and stole two bases.
Colton Benson had two hits, one of them a double, and drove in a run.
Carsten James went two-for-four, drove in two runs, and stole a base.
Owen Cook went two-for-five.
Jack Erselius had one hit and two runs batted in.
Broox Stockman had one hit, and Luke Erselius scored three runs and stole a base.
Jack Erselius was the starting and winning pitcher. He went 3.1 innings, allowed just one hit and two runs, one of which was unearned. He walked three the struck out two.
Watts pitched two inning, allowed 2 hits and 4 runs, 3 of which were earned. He walked five and struck out three.
James pitched 1.2 innings, yielding one hit and no runs. He walked one, hit a batter, and struck out two.
English Valleys fell to 0-12 on the season.
The inning-by-inning score and English Valleys stats hadn’t been posted when this was written, so come back later and have a look.