Grays back to winning ways

​7/23/14

By: Anna Dunlavey

The DC Grays played their next-to-last home game of the season on Wednesday, and fortunately, it ended in a win. The Grays beat the Baltimore Dodgers 4-2, and have now notched at least one win against every team in this year’s Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. Their record also improved to 13-24 on the season.

The Dodgers were the first team to score. Starting pitcher Colin Kelly (Catholic) walked the leadoff batter of the second inning, his first walk of the game, and after a passed ball and a single, that batter was brought home. The Grays were sent down in order in the bottom of the inning, and no runs were scored in the third.

The Grays finally fired back in the bottom of the fourth inning, when eight batters came to the plate.  The inning’s first three batters, Jay Graham (Dartmouth), Lucas Martinez (New Mexico State) and Desmond Stegall (Grambling State) all singled to load the bases with no outs. Joe Tietjen (UNC-Asheville then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Graham and tying the game.  A single from Austin Sanders (University of Alabama-Huntsville) loaded the bases again. Both Martinez and Stegall scored on a single from Trae Sweeting (Georgia State). At the end of four, the score was 3-1 Grays.

The Dodgers scored their second run of the game in the top of the fifth, reducing the Grays’ lead to one run. In the bottom of the eighth, the Grays struck again. With two outs, Tietjen and Sanders both walked. Then Michael Breen (San Jose State) hit a double to right that just barely stayed fair. It’s a good thing it did—Breen brought Tietjen around to score the insurance run and make the score 4-2, which is where it stayed.

Kelly pitched eight innings, his longest outing of the season, and gave up two runs on six hits. James Lengal (Brigham Young) pitched the ninth and got the save. He gave up one hit, but his ERA decreased to 0.93, one of the lowest in the league.

Thursday will be the Grays final home game at the Nationals Youth Academy this year. They will take on the Rockville Express, and Joe Kinee (West Chester) is the Grays’ expected starting pitcher.