Both the Redlegs (1-0) and Royals (2-0) went into their June 14th matchup unbeaten in the young 2020 season, but Camden would be the squad that walked away from this one with their record unblemished. Camden has had the number of the Boys in Blue of late as this win marked the 8th straight victory in a row for Camden. Camden also leads the all time series 22-9.

Speaking of streaks, Michael Cookson is putting a little run together against his former club as well. Since joining the Redlegs in 2019, Cookson has now squared off against the Royals 3 times and has come away with 3 victories. This one would turn out to be Cookson’s best outing against the Royals yet.

Things looked a bit ominous for the home team early, as the Royals took advantage of a couple of Redleg errors and added 3 hits of their own to take an early 3-0 lead after 2 frames. That score held until the bottom of the 4th when the Redlegs finally got on the board. James Robinson played a little small ball, pulling a ground ball to the right side to a score a runner from 3rd to score the first run. Later Brad Malott took advantage of a passed ball a glided across home with a headfirst slide to cut the deficit to 1 run. Camden then unleashed 6 more runs in the 5th and 6th innings. In the 5th, Logan Ritter singled for his first career hit to lead off the inning. Matt Morrison and Jacob Robinson then followed suit, loading the bases with nobody out. Mike Hartman then joined the party, knocking in a run with a base hit of his own. The Royals then executed a nice double 1-2-3 play on a ground ball back to the pitcher, quieting the Redleg rally. But Brad Malott promptly deposited a 2-out 2-run double into the left center gap to push the Redleg lead to 5-3. The 6th inning saw Camden again load the bases with nobody out. This time Matt Mattice and Jesse Jones each singled before Cameron Svarda walked. An infield pop fly and a strikeout looked like it may kill the rally, but again the Redlegs struck with 2 outs. Jacob Robinson worked a bases loaded walk to plate a run before Mike Hartman knocked in two more runs, pushing the advantage to 8-3.

Meanwhile, Cookson continued to cruise after the 2nd inning. He allowed no hits in his final 4 innings of work and ended the day with 8 strikeouts while allowing just the two earned runs.

Jesse Jones took over on the hill in the 7th and promptly retired the top of the Royals order, with a little defensive help from 2nd baseman Brad Malott. After the first batter was hit by a pitch, the next hitter flared a ball that looked like it might land in no mans land just beyond the infield behind 1st base. Malott was able to track it down, stranding the Royals runner halfway to 2nd base.

Malott then led off the 7th with a single, stole 2nd, and was later driven in by Matt Mattice to score the final run of the game for Camden.

After the Royals tacked on two more runs in the 8th, Aaron Carmack took over on the hill and turned in a scoreless 9th inning to preserve the 9-5 victory. The Redlegs now look ahead to a matchup with the expansion North Dayton Nightmare next Sunday (June 21st) at Madison High School at 1:00pm. Kevin Campbell is on tap to make his first start of the 2020 season.

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