Dateline: Browns Chapel
The top of the first saw the Phillies take an early lead, 1-0. Ben singled to ignite the Phillies’ offense. A stolen base then moved Ben from first to second. C.J. singled, bringing home Benjamin. After a quick strike from the Phillies, the Nationals responded with one run in the first. The Nationals scored on an RBI single by Frankie. After 1 it was tied at 1-1.
In the second, Jake struck out the first batter, but walked the next two. A hit batter another strikeout and a double scored three runs. Shane came on in relief and picked up a strike out to stop the Phillies. Bottom of the second and Shane beat out an infield hit. Henry beat on an infield hit and there were runners on at first and second. A wild pitch moved runners to third and second. Joseph T. walked to load the bases. Ben walked to score Shane. Anthony walked to score Henry. After 2 it was Phillies 4 Nationals 3.
Top of the third and Shane made quick work of the Phillies with two strikeouts and a groundout to first where DJ made a nice play and easily raced the batter to the bag for out three. Bottom of the third and Frankie beat out an infield hit. Shane walked but the Phillies pitcher settled down and got out of the inning. After 3 it was still Phillies 4 Nationals 3.
Top of the fourth and Shane continued his fine pitching. He struck out the first two and walked a batter, but then got the last batter to ground out to Anthony at short who got the ball and touched second for out three. Bottom of the fourth and Joseph T. led off with a walk. Michael walked. Anthony walked load the bases. Kahlil came up with a big single to score Joseph T. After four it was all tied up at 4-4.
In the fifth, Henry came on and got the first batter to ground out to the mound. He threw to Anthony at first for out one. A walk and a hard triple to left scored a run and put a runner on a third. The next batter grounded out to Anthony at first to score the run. A couple of errors and a walk loaded the bases but Henry settled down and struck out the last batter for out three. Bottom of the fifth and Shane led off with a walk. He advanced to third on two wild pitches and Joseph T made good contact on a hard grounder to short, but the Phillies played it well and fired to first for out three. After five it was Phillies 6 Nationals 4.
Henry stayed on the mound and struck out the first batter. The next batter singled. A strike out and two walks loaded the bases with two outs. Kahlil came on in relief and got the last batter to ground back to the mound where he threw home to Frankie to get the third out. Down only two runs the Nationals needed two to tie and three to win in the bottom of the sixth. Anthony walked with two outs and the last batter struck out to the end the game. Final Score: Phillies 6 Nationals 4.
The AAA Phillies’ Benjamin E. , C.J. and Keegan P. combined for six hits and five RBIs
Coach Grossman had very little time after the game as he was starting planning for a practice the following day. He said, “Our pitchers did just fine. We struck out thirteen batters. We need to tighten up our defense a little bit but I really want to work on our hitting. We only had four hits on the day and that’s just not enough as I think our hitters are getting better swings, but they just aren’t quite getting the timing. Usually hitters take some time as a season starts so I think our hitters are going to come alive after some good practices this week. I liked how our team kept working hard all game we played a pretty good game tonight — we just came up a little short at the end. We’ll be ready to play again on Saturday.”
