The Redlegs and Indians met up for a double dip at Howell Field on Sunday both looking to improve on their 2-4 early season records. Ultimately, the two clubs would split the series and walk away, still even, at 3-5.

Kevin Schaeffer returned to the mound and turned in a very good outing for the Redlegs. Schaeffer hadn’t pitched in the MVABL since 2011, but it was hard to notice as he went 5 innings and gave up 0 earned runs. Schaeffer started the first inning on the right note, striking out 2 of the first 3 hitters he faced. But two errors, each that should have ended the inning, allowed four unearned runs to cross the plate to give the Indians an early 4-0 advantage. In addition to the strong pitching performance, Schaeffer showed some flashy work with the leather as well as he made a cat like diving catch to thwart a bunt single from Indians leadoff man Joey Cherry in the 2nd inning. The Redlegs got one back in the bottom half of the first after Matt Redman drew a leadoff walk and worked his way around the bases and ended up scoring on a fielding error.

After the combined 5 runs in the first frame, the game quickly took a change of pace and turned into a pitcher’s duel over the last 6 innings. Neither team scored a run for the remainder of the game. Interestingly, neither team scored an earned run in the game. Matt Spradlin ended up with a 4 hit performance with 7 K’s in the complete game effort. Recently signed Miamisburg grad Brandon Burchfield pitched the final two frames for the Redlegs and allowed 1 hit recorded 1 strikeout in his MVABL debut.

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