Baseball: Todd Beamer’s season ended by Kentridge
Published 5:40 pm Thursday, May 5, 2016
A once-promising season for Todd Beamer’s baseball team came to an end on Monday as the Titans fell to Kentridge 8-7 in a loser-out game.
On April 14, Beamer had an 8-5 record and were 4-1 in conference play. A loss to Decatur on April 15 marked the beginning of an eight-game losing streak.
Beamer threatened to score in the top of the first inning after two hits and a sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners. Instead, Kentridge was able to end the top half of the inning with a 6-4-3 double play.
JJ Asinas was on the mound to start the game for Beamer and got off to a rocky start. Isaac Barrera hit a leadoff single for the Chargers and was moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Corey Ng hit another single to drive Barrera in for the first run of the game.
Kody Darcy followed up Ng’s hit with a double, bringing Ng home and giving the Chargers a 2-0 lead. After a walk, Thomas Pardey was able to bring home the third run of the inning with a single to right field.
Asinas gave up one more hit, loading the bases, before finally getting the final two outs to end the first inning.
Kentridge pitcher Ajay Bhat started the second off by quickly retiring two batters. A two-out single by Jacob Barden gave Beamer their first spark of the day.
Corey Jex singled shortly thereafter to put runners on first and second. Tate Wallat’s RBI single cut the lead to two points and rejuvenated the Beamer players who had quieted a bit after the first inning. Bhat was able to get out of the inning without any further damage being done.
Asinas settled down on the mound in the second and put together three solid innings. He gave up just three hits in that span while striking out two.
Beamer managed to cut the Kentridge lead to 3-2 in the third inning while Asinas was dealing.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Titans’ bats caught fire.
Again, Beamer was working with two quick outs already in the inning. This time it was an error by Kentridge’s Mike Callia that kept the inning alive and allowed Asinas to reach first. Jared Thompson then drew a walk to put runners on first and second.
The two had Mario Beavers and Lee Sakto come in as courtesy runners. The substitution paid off as Beavers stole third in place of Asinas.
Brycen Allen stepped to the plate and hit what looked to be a routine groundout to end the inning, but instead Kentridge’s Austin Gormley’s throw to first went errant and allowed Beavers to score and the two runners to reach base.
Tommy Davis kept the inning alive and gave Beamer a 4-3 lead with a single to score Sakto. Barden was hit by a pitch to load the bases directly after.
Kentridge made a pitching change after giving up the lead and decided to go with Justin Simanek.
The next Beamer run came on yet another routine grounder. Callia scooped it up at third, but he froze trying to make a decision on where to throw for the final out. Allen scored and the bases remained loaded as he held onto the ball.
Wallat came through with a hit deep into the outfield. Two more runs scored on the play, though the third out was made in the same sequence. Beamer led 7-3.
The Titans’ joy didn’t last long.
Allen took to the mound in place of Asinas in the bottom of the fifth, hoping to close out the game. Instead, things went awry quickly.
Ng hit for a single to start the inning. Darcy followed that with a home run to left field, cutting the Beamer lead to two.
A walk and a double followed, putting runners on second and third. Errors on the next two at-bats for Kentridge allowed them to tie the game at seven.
Allen was finally able to get the first out by inducing a fly ball from Callia, but Barrera hit another single to give the Chargers back the lead.
They got the final two outs on the next batter, but the damage had been done as Kentridge led 8-7.
The Titans were unable to solve Simanek over the next two innings. He retired six straight batters, striking out two, to give the Chargers the victory to send them to the district playoffs.
“Kind of an up-and-down season for us, obviously,” said Beamer head coach Shane Elliot. “Bottom line is I love these kids. They’re a great group of kids. I’m looking forward to following them in years to come.
“I’m very proud of my seniors in the way that they led the underclassmen. They were ushers, if you will, in teaching these young bucks how to be pitchers on the mound and how to be three-hole hitters. That’s something I look forward to. Watching these young men grow, develop and mature and get varsity opportunities, that was really cool to see.”
The Titans finish the season with an 8-13 record.
