Hornets Pound Their Way Past Trojans

The Saline Hornets were outhit by the Monroe Trojans Tuesday night, but they made their hits count.  The Hornets scored twelve runs to back Doug Mitchell in a 12-8 win to advance in District play.

Saline jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when a walk and a single and a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Mitchell set up a two run single off the bat of Garrett Gordon.  Monroe answered in the top of the second with a run after Mitchell walked the number nine hitter with the bases loaded and took a 3-2 lead on two unearned runs in the top of the third.

The Hornets answered in the bottom half of the third after loading the bases with two walks and a hit batter.  Gordon hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring a run but beating out the relay throw to prevent a double play and Nick Ostrander slammed a double to score two more.  Austin McBee plated the final two runs of the inning for Saline with a two run single into right field.

“I thought every inning but one we had real good swings and good approaches at the plate.  We took advantage of some mistakes with some good swings.  Early on, we were making some outs with some good swings,” said head coach Scott Theisen.

Mitchell’s night ended with two outs in the fourth after he gave up a fourth run and put two more runners on with a walk and a hit batter.  Brent Vaccaro came on in relief and ended the inning by inducing a pop out to McBee behind the plate.  The Hornets came back by scoring three of their own, with Ostrander adding two more RBIs on bases loaded single.  Saline ended the fourth up 11-4.

“The plan was to get a couple guys work [on the mound], and maybe use three or four guys if you have to because there’s no tomorrow if you [lose].  We were fortunate to throw enough strikes late in the game even though we made some mistakes defensively.  We gave them four or five outs on a couple of occasions.  We can’t continue to do that,” said Theisen.

The Trojans added four more runs over the next two innings off Vaccaro, but were unable to catch Saline.  Tim Bruley snagged a line drive to end the game and the Hornets will move on to the next round in District play on Saturday, June 4.