The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Campbell tosses gem
Hamilton junior pitches six scoreless innings in win over New York Mills
HAMILTON >> New York Mills wasted no timemounting a threat against Hamilton starting pitcher Sam Campbell in their baseball game on Friday, loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first.
The junior’s response set the tone for the rest of the game.
Campbell got an inning-ending strikeout and tossed fivemore scoreless frames to earn the victory in a 9-4 victory over the Marauders.
“To get out of the first inning without any runs scored is always huge,” said Hamilton coach Joe LePage.
Campbell didn’t allow a run over his six innings of work, holding the Marauders to three hits with just one walk and six strikeouts.
“I just kept throwing strikes,” said Campbell. “They were making plays in the field.”
The bottom of the Emerald Knights lineup was especially efficient on Friday, with the 5-9 hitters combining to go 6-for-16 with four RBI and five runs scored.
“We’ll get productivity anywhere we can,” said LePage. “Put the ball in play, put pressure on teams, try to get on base, that’s what we do.”
New York Mills loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first on an error, a walk and a single. Campbell struck Derek Bauer out swinging to get out of the jamand keep the game scoreless.
It wouldn’t stay that way
for long. Matt McGaugh started a two- out Hamilton rally with a single against New York Mills starter Nick Briggs-Ellenberger and Campbell followed with a base hit of his own. Jacob Hill reached on an error to score Hill before Mark Dunckel and Griffin Rose hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Emerald Knights a 3-0 lead going into the second inning.
“All three runs with two outs, that was huge for us,” said LePage.
After stranding two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the second, Hamilton struck again in the third. Hill led off with a single, the first of five straight base hits for the hosts. Rose, John Griffith and Sean Hunt - the 7-8-9 hitters in LePage’s lineup - each had an RBI single with Hunt’s hit ending BriggsEllenberger’s day on the mound. Rob Maciol came on to pitch and after he retired his first batter Trevor Dow ripped a two-run double to extend the lead to 8-0.
Campbell helped his own cause in the bottom of the fifth, driving in Sean Hunt with a fielder’s choice groundout to make the score 9-0.
On the mound, the junior continued to deal. Joe Marchese was the only Ma- rauders batter to reach base over Campbell’s final five innings, singling in the second and the fourth innings.
RyanHunt came on in relief of Campbell in the top of the seventh and surrendered a single to Baur before hitting Marchese with a pitch. The next two batters were retired before back-to-back RBI singles from Ryan Sharpe and Alex Matrassi plated the Marauders’ first two runs. Briggs-Ellenberger added a two-run double to cut the lead to 9-4 but Ryan Hunt got a game-ending groundout to seal the victory.
The Emerald Knights have a week off over break before returning to the field on Friday when they will host Brookfield at 4 p.m.
“Hopefully (Friday’s win) keeps us going through break,” said Campbell.