Camden rebounded nicely from their dreadful opening day
showing, but ultimately fell just short of spoiling the
2021 debut of the South Dayton Slammers.
Two perennial Cy Young candidates went toe to toe in this
one, and Aaron Carmack and Jeff Beal did not disappoint.
Carmack did everything in his power to keep the
powerhouse Slammer offense at bay and left with the lead
after he turned in 7 innings excellent work. Carmack
finished his day with 5 strikeouts, while only
surrendering 6 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) and took the
no-decision. Beal lasted 6 and 2/3 and punched out 9
Redleg hitters, but also did not factor in the decision.
The Slammers looked like they would get off to a fast
start when they loaded the bases in the top of the first,
but Carmack was able to induce a groundball to short that
Brad Malott quickly turned into two outs as he tapped
second base and fired on to first to complete the double
play.
Camden drew first blood in the top of the 3rd when James
Robinson started the inning with a single and later
scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by Cody Saraco-Polner.
After the Slammers tied things up in the bottom of the
4th, the Redlegs again took the lead in the top of the
5th. Evan Koogler walked to start the frame and was
scored on a double by Jesse Jones. The lead again was
short lived as the Slammers scraped a run together in the
bottom of the 5th to tie it up at 2-2.
The Slammers pushed another run home in the bottom of the
6th, taking their first lead of the ballgame. But
another lead change was imminent as Camden was able to
push two more runs across the dish in the top of the 7th.
James Robinson and Cameron Svarda each reached on errors
early in the inning before setting up a 2-out 2-run
single by Jacob Robinson to put Camden back on top by a
score of 4-3.
But the Slammers again took the lead, this time rallying
to score 3 times in the bottom of the 7th to take a lead
they would not relinquish. Leading 6-4 with the bases
loaded and two outs, Brad Malott made a fantastic over
the shoulder catch as he ranged from short stop to short
left field that easily saved at least two runs from
scoring, keeping Camden close as they only trailed by 2.
Both sides came away scoreless in the 8th.
A one-out single by Jesse Jones gave some life to the
Redlegs in the top of the 9th. After a strikeout, Cody
Saraco-Polner lined a single into right field, but a
perfect strike from the Slammers right fielder was able
to deliver the knockout blow as they cut the runner down
at the plate to end the game.
Next week will feature 2021’s first edition of the
Backyard Battle between the Redlegs and Rangers at 1:00pm
at Gastineau field in New Carlisle.
Boxscore
| J Robinson | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| B Malott | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K Arend | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M Hartman | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J Watson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E Koogler | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J Robinson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J Jones | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C Svarda | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C Saraco-Polner | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J Edwards | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
2B: Arend; Jones
| A Carmack | 7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| J Jones (L) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
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