Grays split doubleheader with Gaithersburg Giants

​Andrew Houghton 7/13/13

The Grays split two close games with the Gaithersburg Giants on Saturday, losing the first 4-3 and then winning the nightcap 6-5 at Kelley Park to move to 14-17 on the season.  Henry Sisson (North Carolina) started for the Grays and pitched well early, matching zeroes with Giants starter Connor Hibbs (Delaware) through three innings before giving up two runs on three hits in the fourth.  The Grays got them back the very next inning though, scoring two runs of their own on an RBI single by Brandon Kiser (Grambling State) and a sac fly by Kelton Caldwell (BYU) to force Hibbs’ exit.  Sisson stayed in the game but gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth as the Giants successfully pulled off a double steal with runners on first and third, the lead runner sliding across the plate before the out was recorded at second.  With time growing short (doubleheaders in the Ripken League are two games of seven innings each), the Grays clawed back again to tie it in the top of the sixth when Peyton Fuller (Troy University) singled to left with the bases loaded.  The score remained knotted at three until the bottom of the seventh, when with two outs Sisson gave up a walk and a single to load the bases, and then a walk-off single to left by Gaithersburg second baseman Josh Ingham (Central Connecticut State) to end the game.

The Grays would fight back in the second game though.  After their starter Enrique Oquendo (McLennan CC) was battered around for three runs in the bottom of the first, the Grays offense responded with  four in the top of the second, with Peyton Fuller (Troy University) hitting a two-run single and Casey Hicks (Gallaudet) hitting his second home run of the week, a two-run shot that put the Grays ahead 4-3.  But it wouldn’t last as the Giants scored single runs in the second inning off Oquendo and in the third off reliever Jayson Yano (Stevens Tech) to take the lead back.  Yano and fellow reliever Chris Nee (Catholic University) held them there, however, and the Grays tied it up in the fifth when Kelton Caldwell (BYU) doubled and scored on Cody Walker’s (Mississippi State) RBI single.  After scoreless frames for each side, Hicks singled to open the top of the seventh for the Grays.  Pinch runner Brandon Kiser (Grambling State) was picked off first base, but center fielder Eric Ramsey (Wake Forest) doubled two pitches later and scored when shortstop DJ Miller (Delaware State) reached on an error to give the Grays a 6-5 lead.  Nee then shut the Giants down in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the slim one-run lead and give the Grays the victory.

The Grays play next on Sunday, July 14th at 1:00 pm against the Vienna River Dogs at Hoy Field on the campus of Gallaudet University.