Elma solved the Aberdeen pitching puzzle to score four runs in the sixth inning en route to a 5-3 victory on Friday at Ken Waite Field in Aberdeen.
The Eagles (4-1 overall) scored a run off Bobcats starter Chad Fretts when Brody Palmer drove in Grant Vessey with a fielder’s choice ground out in the first inning.
Aberdeen (3-2) responded to take the lead in the bottom half of the frame, scoring two runs off Eagles starting pitcher Brody Palmer. Hunter Eisele drove in Bubba Jones with a fielder’s choice ground out followed by Aidan Baker coming home on a wild pitch, giving the Bobcats a 2-1 lead.
And that was all the offense for either team through the next three-and-a-half innings as Fretts and Palmer settled in to lock down opposing offenses.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen sophomore pitcher Chad Fretts retired 14-of-15 Elma Eagles at one point of the game in a 5-3 loss on Friday in Aberdeen.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that either team would score another run, and it turned out to be Aberdeen.
The Bobcats picked up an insurance run when Sam Schreiber reached on a two-out single and advanced to third on a Baker single. Schreiber came in to score two pitches later on a passed ball, sliding in head first just ahead of the tag by Elma reliever Carter Studer.
After a Hunter Eisele walk and Charlie Ancich reaching on a catcher’s interference call to load the bases, Studer struck out Baylor Ainsworth to end the frame and limit the damage to one run.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Sam Schreiber (8) beats the tag of Elma relief pitcher Carter Studer during the Eagles’ 5-3 win on Friday at Pioneer Park in Elma.
That turned out to be crucial for Elma as the Eagles – which had been held to just a Palmer fourth-inning single in the second through fifth innings – finally got to Fretts, who had retired 12-of-13 Eagles batters heading into the sixth inning.
After Fretts retired the first two batters of the frame, TJ Dunlap kept the inning alive with a single and Palmer followed with a four-pitch walk.
Elma sophomore outfielder Isaac McGaffey then belted a double to the gap in left-center,scoring Dunlap. A mishandled cut-off throw allowed Palmer to come all the way around from first and score the tying run at 3-3.
Elma wasn’t done yet. Ethan Camus stepped to the plate and doubled on a full-count pitch to score Dunlap and give Elma the lead.
“I was just trying to get a single honestly. I wasn’t trying to do anything special,” Camus said. “I just went up there, saw it and I swung and it went far.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma cathcer Ethan Camus looks toward his teammates in celebration after hitting a go-ahead double in the sixth inning of a 5-3 win over Aberdeen on Friday in Aberdeen.
Camus then came in to score on a Studer double to put Elma up 5-3.
“For our team, we’ve got to really work on getting that momentum early,” said Elma head coach Travis Vessey, whose team had just one hit in the game heading into the sixth. “It shouldn’t take that one big hit for us to get the charge going, but it got us going. … That intensity and that kind of approach and enthusiasm for the game, it’s got to start at the beginning.”
“Right now, we’re trying to minimize those big innings,” Aberdeen head coach Layne Bruner said. “We’re young and so we have a tendency right now where when something happens, we don’t flush it right away and it carries on to the next one. … (Elma) got tough at the plate and they can swing it.”
Studer then retired the final six batters he faced, striking out Schreiber and Baker in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and secure the victory.
Palmer (4 IP, 2ER, H, 5K, 4BB) and Studer (3 IP, R, 0ER, 2H, 5K, BB) combined to allow two earned runs on three hits with 10 strikeouts in the game.
“They did good,” said Camus, Elma’s catcher, of his pitchers. “It’s a pretty cold day and they came out and threw hard. Props to them.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma starting pitcher Brody Palmer allowed just one hit in four innings of work in a 5-3 win over Aberdeen on Friday in Aberdeen.
“We’ve been happy with our staff all year,” Coach Vessey said, adding his defense also played a key role in the victory. “We pride ourselves on our defense. When we can only get one hit through the first five innings, we’ve got to be good at something. We work a lot (on defense) when we get outside and, hopefully, our swings will come.”
Making his varsity pitching debut, the sophomore Fretts allowed five runs – four earned – on six hits with a walk and a strikeout in six innings of work in taking the loss.
“Chad (Fretts) did great,” Bruner said. “He’s going to be a guy in our program to get a lot of important innings over the next couple of years. To see an outing like that is very promising.”
Baker came in for Fretts to pitch a scoreless seventh inning, allowing a hit and a walk in the frame.
Dunlap was the only player in the game to collect multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a run scored.
With the tough late-inning loss, Bruner said his team is “focused on positivity right now.”
“We identify the things we need to get better at and we focus on the positives,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of big games coming up and there is a lot of good things we can take away from a game like that.”
Elma hosts King’s Way Christian at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Aberdeen faces Shelton in a 2A Evergreen Conference game at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Pioneer Park in Aberdeen.
Elma 100 004 0 – 5 7 1
Aberdeen 200 010 0 – 3 3 1
WP: Studer (3 IP, R, 0ER, 2H, 5K, BB). LP: Fretts (6 IP, 5R, 4ER, 6H, K, BB).
Leading hitters: Elma – Dunlap (2-4, R); McGaffey (1-3, 2B, R, 2RBI); Wright (1-4); Palmer (1-2, R, RBI); Camus (1-3, 2B, R, RBI); Studer (1-3, 2B, RBI). Aberdeen – Baker (1-3, R, SB); Jones (1-4, R); Schreiber (1-3, R).
