Chatham Baseball Beats Rival Madison, Ends Losing Streak

MADISON — With his team in the middle of a five game losing streak, Chatham baseball coach Doug Chambers decided to change things up a bit.

Monday afternoon against rival Madison, the Cougars came out aggressive and confident. Not coincidentally, Chatham took an early lead and never looked back, beating the Dodgers 7-3 at Madison High School.

Chatham's aggressiveness on the basepaths led to their first run. Dan Haus reached on a hit by pitch in the top of the third. He stole second - one of three steals in the first three innings - and came home on Matt Reader's two-out RBI single.

Madison tied the game in the bottom of the fourth - and threatened to do further damage - but Chatham scored three runs in the fifth and sixth innings and never trailed. It was Chatham's first victory since April 7.

"It's been difficult, we've lost five in a row," Chambers said. "And in every game, it seemed like we were down 4-0 or 5-0 after a couple of innings. Today we came out focused."

The Dodgers, who lost their fifth straight game, had opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings, loading the bases with fewer than two outs in both innings. Reader wriggled out of both jams—and preserved Chatham's lead—thanks to a pair of sterling defensive plays.

In the fourth inning, Madison's Jamie Hunter hit a double down the left field line in the fourth, tying the game at 1-1. After Connor Higgins walked to load the bases with one out, Mike Haughey hit a flare to right field. Roger Wilson made a diving catch to rob Haughey of an RBI, and Hunter was thrown out at second after failing to tag up.

"We played solid defense today," Chambers said. "We bent today, and we didn't break."

Chatham scored three runs immediately to take back the lead for Reader, who pitched a complete game and picked up his first decision of the season.

In the bottom of the fifth, Madison loaded the bases with no outs with an infield single, a hit by pitch and a walk. Meister singled in two to cut Chatham's lead to 4-3. After Tracy flew into the unexpected double play, Connor Allen reached on an error to put runners at the corners with two out. But Reader struck out Hunter to end the threat.

Reader retired the last seven Madison hitters faced, needing just 26 pitches to record five groundouts and two strikeouts to end Chatham's five-game losing streak.

"That's his first time going seven innings," Chambers said. "He's been one of our middle inning relievers who I decided to give a start."

Higgins took the loss for Madison, allowing all seven of Chatham's runs over 5 1/3 innings.

The sophomore right-hander was stellar for four innings, allowing just one run on three hits and striking out six. He threw 21 of his first 25 pitches for strikes.

But Higgins began to labor in the fifth inning, allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases. Read helped his own cause with a long double over the head of center fielder Dilan Kluge, scoring two and giving Chatham a 3-1 lead. Wilson made it 4-1 on a sacrifice fly.

Read also drove in the game's first run with an RBI single in the third inning.

"He's going well right now," Chambers said. "He's our three-hitter, and you normally put your best hitter there. He's also our captain, and he's not really a yeller, but he does lead by example."

After Madison cut it to 4-3, Chatham broke through again in the top of the sixth.

Brian Ballard led off with a solid single to left, and Higgins walked Mike Fox and hit Andrew Matt with a pitch. Haus then hit a sharp ground ball that rolled to the gap in right centerfield, scoring two and chasing Higgins after 97 pitches.

"I thought we could squeeze another inning out of Higgins," said Madison coach Mickey Ennis. "Once their leadoff hitter got on, we thought they would sac bunt, and we wanted our most athletic pitcher out there. I was ready to go get him, but we wanted to protect against the sac bunt."

James Damato made it 7-3 with an RBI groundout on the first pitch from relief pitcher Hunter.

Chatham improved to 3-6, 2-2 in the NJAC-Independence Division. The Cougars travel to division rival Morris Catholic Wednesday afternoon.

BOX SCORE
Chatham  0  0  1  0  3  3  0  -  7  8  1
Madison   0  0  0  1  2  0  0  -  3  7  0
W: Matt Reader (1-0)
L: Connor Higgins (1-2)

CHATHAM (3-6, 2-2)
-Haus, CF           2-3, R, 2 RBI, HBP, SB
-Damato, LF        0-2, R, RBI, BB
-Reader, P           2-3, 3 RBI, 2B, SB
-Wilson, RF         0-3, RBI
-DeVito, C           0-4
-Ballard, SS         2-4, R, 2 SB
-Fox, 2B              0-2, R, BB
-Phillips, 3B         1-3, R
-Matt, DH            1-2, R, HBP

-Reader, SP        7 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 7 K, 3 BB, 118 pitches (72 strikes)

MADISON (3-7, 0-5)
-Kluge, CF           0-3, R, HBP
-Brownlee, 2B      1-3, BB, SB
-Meister, SS        2-4, R, 2 RBI
-Tracy, 1B           0-3
-Allen, 3B            1-3
-Hunter, DH/P      1-3, RBI, 2B
-Higgins, SP        1-1, BB
---Ruiz, C             0-1
-Haughey, RF       0-3
-Finelli, LF/PR      0-2, R
---Dias, PH           1-1

-Higgins, SP         5 1/3 IP, 7 R, 7 ER, 8 H, 7 K, 4 BB, 97 pitches (61 strikes)
---Hunter, RP        1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 14 pitches (10 strikes)