La Plata Post 82 wins first Legion game of season
Bradley throws complete game as La Plata knocks off Calvert in Legion baseball
In American Legion baseball action on Tuesday night at Dunkirk Park, La Plata Post 82 earned its first win of the 2019 season with an 11-0 shutout over Calvert Legion in five innings.
“We had a solid game all the way around,” La Plata head coach Dave Harris said. “We played some really good solid defense and had some nice defensive plays.”
La Plata (1-1 overall) was able to explode for five runs in the top of the fifth inning and managed to score at least one run in all but one half inning.
“We didn’t make any mistakes, we were patient at the plate and put the ball in play hard,” Harris said.
Travis Bradley led La Plata on the mound with a complete-game shutout performance, including recording three strikeouts and surrendering just two hits.
“Travis Bradley’s pitching was outstanding,” Harris said. “He was on the money. He threw less than 65 pitches in five complete innings which really helped us.”
Bradley threw 64 pitches in the contest and 44 of them were strikes. Out of the 18 total batters Bradley faced, 12 times he was able to throw a first-pitch strike to get ahead in the count.
“I went out there and was able to throw firstpitch strikes and dominate on the mound with a great defense behind me to make the plays,” Bradley said.
Logan Handwork and Kevon Wharton led La Plata with two hits each as the team combined for nine hits in the win.
Wharton knocked in La Plata’s first run of the game with a two-out RBI single which scored Patrick Estevez from third base in the top of the first.
In the top of the second, Marquill Barnes doubled La Plata’s 1-0 advantage with an RBI single to center field for a 2-0 lead.
La Plata added four runs in the top of the third and five in the top of the fifth.
“Our older guys got us started off and then our younger guys came in and kept it going,” Harris said. “Our goals are to get better. We
have a very young team with a lot of young guys that we are trying to bring up to speed to playing at this older level. It will take a minute, and we got some tough tournaments where we are going to play some really good experienced teams. Then we’ve got some games that we should be able to handle and have a little more fun.”
Calvert (0-2 overall) recorded its first hit in the bottom of the fourth on a single from Austin Olewnik.
“I thought the boys played pretty well,” Calvert head coach Jim Schaible said. “We had some errors and some things that didn’t go right, but all in all we are going to get better and come to the next game and see what we got.”
In the bottom of the fifth, Calvert’s Hayden Haller recorded a single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch before Brandon Phelps’ pop fly ended the game.
“We just have to get some pitching behind us and I think we will do alright,” Schaible said.
Calvert used three different pitchers in the five-inning contest, and the three combined for six walks.
“We need to put a winning season together, that is our big goal,” Schaible said as the team searches for its first win. “This is a fresh team, straight out of the chute. We got some good ballplayers here and now we just have to mesh together and start playing well and at least go .500 [this season].”