Bath 10U falls to Jamesville, 16-4
Published 3:37 pm Monday, July 11, 2016
- Drew Vanstaalduinen sees his pitch, keeps his weight back and swings for the fences. Bath didn’t struggle much with getting runners on base, but couldn’t find the key hits to push most of them across.
JAMESVILLE — Bath’s 10U team fell behind early in Saturday’s Little Tar Heel tournament meeting with host Jamesville. The all stars conceded five runs in the first inning and struggled to recover, ultimately falling 16-4 in five innings.
Shane Biggs started on the mound for Bath. He issued a walk with the bases loaded to allow Jamesville to take a 2-0 lead. The hosts then got consecutive RBIs, including a double to left field that pushed across two runs.
Biggs bounced back by scoring a run in the bottom half of the stanza. He drew a two-out walk before Drew Vanstaalduinen stepped up and drilled a two-RBI shot to centerfield. Bath stranded one in scoring position in the frame, but still managed to put a dent in its early deficit.
Defensive woes continued to plague Bath. Carson Clinkscales took over on the mound for Biggs in the second. He hit the first batter he faced and the next reached via an error in the outfield. Clinkscales bounced back by fanning the third batter of the frame.
After taking an 8-2 lead, Jamesville was able to stave off another comeback attempt by Bath. Nate Battershell and Andrew Harding both found themselves in scoring position with two outs. Wyatt Berry got ahead 3-0 in the count and nearly drew a walk to load the bases, but Jamesville caught him looking.
Jamesville scored three more in the third to take a commanding 11-2 lead. Mason Newman and Clinkscales were both in scoring position with one out in the bottom of the frame. Biggs plated Newman with a single to shortstop. With runners on the corners, Biggs went to steal second and gave Clinkscales the opening to steal home.
“It’s pretty standard. We’re going to give ourselves a chance if we get first and third,” coach Mark Clinkscales said. “On the first pitch, we’re going to go. It gives us two runners in scoring position and, chances are, even if they throw it down, it’s going to be a bad throw and we’re going to send him home. … That’s what we tried to do, to put pressure on them.”
Jamesville scored five runs in the top of the fifth to back Bath against a wall. The 12-run lead halfway through the fifth inning meant Bath needed at least three runs to keep the game going. The all stars loaded the bases after Landon Modlin and Biggs both drew walks and a pitch hit Vanstaalduinen. All three were left on after Jamesville retired the next two batters.
“We had opportunities,” Clinkscales said. “We left runners on, I think, every inning. We just couldn’t get the hit. They had a couple of ones fall in there with runners on. They got the hits (Saturday) and we didn’t. You tip your cap to them because they did a great job. They didn’t make mistakes and I felt like we made a couple of mistakes in the field.”