MIDDLETOWN — Middletown erased a 4-0 St. Bernard’s deficit with a four-run bottom of the fifth inning, but the visiting Crusaders took advantage of the Mustangs’ defense to score six times in the top of the seventh and win 10-4 in a non-league varsity baseball game Friday afternoon at Wes Martin Field.
“We threw that one away,” Middletown head coach Tyler Holt said of the Mustangs’ five errors in the seventh, the capper on a perfectly awful day for his team in the field (11 errors in all).
Losing pitcher Bryan Riel, working in relief of starter Luke Hoogendoorn, walked St. Bernard’s leadoff batter in the seventh. Three of the next four Crusaders batters reached on errors, the other on the only hit allowed by Riel in his one inning of work. Only two of the six runs he allowed were earned.
“Error after error after error,” Holt said. “It was rough.”
Middletown’s batters struggled against St. Bernard’s starting pitcher, who shut out the Mustangs during his four innings on the mound.
“He was throwing in the 80s, maybe higher,” Holt said.
St. Bernard’s staked its starter to a 4-0 lead with three runs in the top of the second and another in the fifth against Hoogendoorn, who allowed only four hits and one earned run with six strikeouts and no walks. But once the Crusaders went to their bullpen in the bottom of the fifth, Middletown’s bats came alive. The Mustangs loaded the bases on a Zach Dubois double and walks to Hoogendoorn and Jesse Young. With two outs, Cole Ketchum tripled down the right-field line to clear the bases. Noah Williams followed with a RBI single to knot the score at 4-4.
Middletown (0-4) and St. Bernard (1-0) exchanged zeroes in the sixth inning before the Crusaders busted the game open in the seventh.
Ketchum went 3-for-3 for the Mustangs, who are off until next Friday when they play Fortuna at 12:05 p.m. in the opening round of the St. Bernard’s Tournament.
