The Redlegs faced off against the A’s in Monroe to try to
stay undefeated on the year. They sent Kevin Campbell to
the mound for his second start of the season to try to
tame the powerful A’s bats that have given the Redlegs,
and Campbell himself, problems in the past.
The Redlegs threatened early with Matt Morrison reaching
on an error to lead off the game followed by a single by
Jacob Robinson. Morrison alertly sped into third as the
ball trickled away from the pitcher on the play.
However, two shallow popups and a fly out ended the
threat without any damage.
The A’s put together a threat of their own in the first.
Leadoff hitter Brandon Kunkle smacked a liner into right
center field to lead off the inning, but Matt Mattice
laid out and made a great catch. Two more hard hit balls
resulted in back to back singles before Brandon Howard
made a nice over the shoulder catch on a blooper into
short center field. Another single loaded the bases but
Campbell induced a popup to get out of the inning
unscathed.
The Redlegs started off the scoring in the 2nd when
Mattice led off with a single. He swiped second base and
one out later, scored on an RBI single by Casey
Waterhouse.
After his initial trouble in the first, Campbell settled
into a groove and retired the next 10 A’s hitters to come
to the plate.
The Redlegs threatened again in the 3rd with one out
singles by Robinson and Brad Clark but a tapper back to
the pitcher and a flyout fizzled the rally. They finally
broke the game open somewhat in the 4th and 5th innings
when Mattice led off the inning 4th with a double and
later scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin McCurdy. Jared
Bradley led off the 5th with a single, moved up on a
sacrifice bunt by Morrison and scored on a double by
Clark. Brandon Howard then followed with an RBI double
of his own, making it 4-0.
The A’s finally put some pressure on Campbell in the 5th
when PJ Dobbins doubled to start the inning. Campbell
struck out the next batter before giving up a deep drive
to left that Kyle Arend ran back and snagged while
crashing into the wall to save a run and extra bases. A
ground ball to first ended the threat.
In what was becoming a recurring theme, Mattice led off
the 6th with a double and came around to score on a
sacrifice fly by Waterhouse to pad the score at 5-0.
The A’s threatened again in the 6th and 7th innings with
three singles and a walk, but each time Campbell was able
to escape.
The Redlegs tacked on three more in the top of the 8th.
Finally someone not named Matt Mattice led the inning off
with a hit. This time it was Arend who started the
rally. Mattice followed with his 4th hit of the game and
Mike Hartman drove Arend in with an RBI single. A
sacrifice fly by Bradley and another RBI single by
Morrison put the lead at 8-0.
The A’s finally got to Campbell in the 8th and chased him
from the game. After plunking the leadoff hitter and
issuing a walk, a flare into center field that fell to
load the bases brought on Brad Clark to try to put out
the fire. A fielder’s choice scored a run and a wild
pitch allowed another to get across. Clark then induced
a pretty 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning with
minimal damage.
The Redlegs got the runs right back in the 9th. After
Clark
drew a walk, Howard hammered a ball over the left center
field fence for his first homerun of the year. Mattice
then tied a Redlegs record with his 5th hit of the
afternoon.
The A’s managed to scrape across one more run in the
bottom of the ninth before Clark got a pair of groundouts
to end the game and give the Redlegs a 10-3 win.
It was a great all around win for the Redlegs to improve
to 3-0. They got a great start from Kevin Campbell who
was backed up by some stellar defense by Matt Mattice,
Kyle Arend, and Matt Morrison, big hits from Mattice and
Brandon Howard, and, with 4 sacrifices on the day,
flawless fundamentals up and down the lineup. After
taking a week off for Mother’s Day, they’ll try to keep
it rolling in two weeks back in Monroe against the
Slammers.
Boxscore
| M Morrison | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J Robinson | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B Clark | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| B Howard | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| K Arend | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M Mattice | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| M Hartman | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| C Waterhouse | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| J McCurdy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J Bradley | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| M Redman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| K Campbell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2B: Clark; Howard; Mattice 2
HR: Howard
| K Campbell (W) | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| B Clark | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |