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Providing a spark
Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Calvert pitcher Darius Jones throws in relief into the sixth inning Tuesday against St. Mary's during his team’s 4-2 win at Chancellor's Run.
Calvert edges St. Mary’s in Legion
By AJ MASONStaff writer
There wasn’t much offense in Tuesday night’s American Legion Frank Riley League baseball contest, but Calvert Council posts 85, 206, 220 and 274 gained the much-needed edge in the top of the fourth inning at Chancellor’s Run Regional Park in Great Mills versus St. Mary’s Ridge Post 255.
Trailing by one run, Calvert scored two runs in the fourth to take a one-run lead.
It added an insurance run in the seventh and held off the St. Mary’s squad in a 4-2 victory.
Calvert improved to 10-1 overall, 10-1 in the Frank Riley League, and took on Chaney Enterprises on Thursday evening, a game that finished too late for inclusion into this edition and will play a doubleheader versus College Park Post 217 at noon Saturday at Northern High School in Owings.
Calvert head coach Cleon Jones moved his son, Darius, from center field to relief pitcher in the bottom of the fourth, replacing starter Jeremy Conley.
Darius later pitched four scoreless innings, striking out five batters. He gave up just one hit to help secure the team’s victory in relief of Conley, who struck out six while allowed two runs on four hits.
“The main thing was to come in and throw strikes,” the younger Jones said. “St. Mary’s was very aggressive at the plate and I wanted to get ahead of the count. Right now every win is a must-win because La Plata, Greenbelt and Chaney are battling with us for the top spot in the league. We want to win that and states.”
The older Jones mentioned that he was proud of his son for coming in and providing a strong performance on the mound.
“My son came in and did well. He’s a good pitcher, but we often use him in the outfield because we need him,” he said. “He throws a real good curveball and when he got that going they [St. Mary’s] were in trouble.”
In the top of the fourth with designated hitter Stevie Seifert on second base and one out, first baseman Cody Robertson tied the game at 2 with an RBI single to right field.
“St. Mary’s is a team that will surprise you, we came out lackadaisical and they jumped on us early,” said Robertson, who finished with two hits along with Jones on the night. “It feels good to get the win. We had a good few hits, but we still needed to work on our base running, we [made] some mistakes there. We also have to work on shortening up our swings.”
Jones followed things up with an RBI single of his own, bringing courtesy runner Paul Woodburn to home plate to give Calvert a 3-2 advantage.
In the seventh with two on and one out, shortstop Daniel Castro ripped an RBI single to score younger brother Gabriel, who led off the seventh with a double to right field.
“I’m never happy when we don’t hit,” the older Jones said. “We were playing in wood bat tournaments for two weeks, so changing over back to metal was a transition. But we made up for it with our pitching and defense. That’s what we focus on.”
St. Mary’s ((5-8, 5-8 after a 7-4 win over La Plata Post 82 on Wednesday evening at Chancellor’s Run)) took a 2-1 lead in the third as Michael Brown hit a two-out RBI double, scoring Shaquann Johnson. Seconds later, Brown touched home plate on a single from Tommy Walton.
Brown had two of the five hits for St. Mary’s in the contest and Johnson walked three times in the game.
St. Mary’s head coach Don DeGraves was pleased with the pitching from starter Mike Bucci, who pitched six innings with six strikeouts, yielded six hits, had three earned runs and one walk, and hit three batters.
“We missed some hitting opportunities when we needed it,” DeGraves said. “We just had a couple guys that didn’t produce. Mike was tough and pitched very tough, we just could not get any run support.”
Walton came in to pitch the seventh for St. Mary’s and gave up one run and one hit.
Calvert scored the first run of the game in the first when left fielder Kyle Schade scored from third base on a passed ball strikeout from catcher Brian Portillo.
St. Mary’s hosted Greenbelt on Thursday night at Chancellor’s Run, a game that finished too late for inclusion into this edition. It is scheduled to take on Bowie in a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Saturday at Chancellor’s Run.
Calvert does well in tourney
Calvert finished the Sonny Blank tournament with a 3-1 record.
Thursday, it defeated Cecil County Legion, 10-0 in six innings. That was followed on Friday with a 7-0 loss to Brooklawn, N.J. Legion, the defending state Legion champions. Calvert was shut down by starting pitcher Casey Brown of Central Connecticut State University, whose pitching velocity on the radar gun was clocked at 91 miles per hour in the fifth inning of the contest.
The next day, Calvert edged Mt. Airy Legion of Carroll County in extra innings, 6-5 in extra innings, then topped Ridgefield Connecticut Legion on Sunday, 5-3.
ajmason@somdnews.com
Calvert Council posts 85, 206, 220, 274 4, St. Mary’s Ridge Post 255 2
Calvert 100 200 1 4 7 1
St. Mary’s 002 000 0 2 5 1
WP Jones, LP BucciExtra-base hits: 2B G. Castro (C), Brown (SM)