Jags double up Patriots, 8-4
The Jags hosted the Patriots from American Christian Academy at The Ridge on Thursday night. After the Patriots jumped out to a two run lead in the top of the first, the Jags took the lead in the bottom of the third at 3-2 and held off ACA for the 8-4 win.
The Patriots lit the scoreboard first, scoring two runs with two out in the top of the first. The Jags clawed back to close the lead to one in the bottom of the inning. Mayson Elam led off with a walk and moved over to third on Kyle Nunnally’s sacrifice bunt. Milo Obradovich followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Elam, resulting in the Jags closing the Patriot lead to 2-1.
After silencing ACA in the top of the second, Northridge added three runs in their turn at the plate. Thomas Woolf led off by drawing a walk. Logan Caldwell singled and Woolf advanced to second. A wild pitch allowed Woolf and Caldwell to advance one base. Anthony Messina launched a fly ball to right and reached on a fielding error. Woolf scored, Caldwell advanced to third and Messina ended up at second. Evan Malone followed with a sacrifice to score Caldwell and advance Messina to third. Aiden Avery then sacrificed to short to plate Messina for the final run of the inning for the Jags, resulting in the 4-2 Jags’ lead.
The Patriots added a run in the top of the third to pull to within one at 4-3. Kyle Nunnally doubled to start the inning. Then Northridge reclaimed their two run lead in the bottom of the third when Jack Sanderson hit a warning track fly ball to center, allowing a run to score from third and giving the Jags a 5-3 lead.
Northridge picked up another two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Elam led off with a walk and scored on Kyle Nunnally’s double. Sanderson grounded to second to advance Nunnally to third. Woolf followed with a single to center to score Nunnally. Those two runs gave the Jags a 7-3 lead.
After ACA picked up a run in the top of the sixth inning, to close the score to 7-4, the Jags added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. Messina led off with a single and was followed by a single from Malone. Messina stole third and Malone advanced to second, and Messina eventually scored after an error at third base, with Malone advancing to third. A ground out and two Woolf strikeouts ended a 1-2-3 top half of the seventh inning, giving the Jags the 8-4 win.
Nunnally, Messina and Malone collected two hits each for the game. Woolf and Caldwell added one hit each. Elam was credited with scoring three runs, Messina added two and Nunnally, Woolf and Caldwell scored once. Nunnally, Obradovich, Sanderson, Woolf, Malone and Avery collected RBIs for the Jags.
Malone started on the mound and claimed the win, pitching three innings, with two strikeouts. Woolf tossed four innings in relief, striking out three. The duo spread out nine hits and allowed four earned runs over seven innings.
