Sutherland outlasts Batavia 9-7

The Sutherland Knights defeated the Batavia Blue Devils yesterday 9-7 on a windy day at Sargent Field. The Knights fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first courtesy of two hits, two hit batsman and two walks. Sutherland came roaring back in the home half of the 1st inning to tie it thanks to a B. Kaczka single and Z. Salvia two-run homerun.

The Blue Devils again took the lead in the second when they pieced together a walk, a hit, another hit batsman and a Sutherland miscue to go up 4-3.

In the home half of the second, the Knights used walks to S. Lowe and H. Merrill and singles by J. Swisher and Kaczka, to take a 5-4 lead.

The Blue Devils again tied the game in the fourth with a walk, a wild pitch and an error. Sutherland took the lead for good in the fourth when Kaczka hit a two-run homerun and Salvia had another run scoring base hit to make the score 8-4. An RBI groundout by N. Barra in the bottom of the 6th, extended the lead to 9-5.

The Blue Devils tacked on two runs off of closer A. DePaolis in the seventh to make the final 9-7.

M. Gibbs notched his first varsity win by going four innings and giving up 1 run while striking out six Blue Devils. DePaolis relieved Gibbs with two outs in the sixth inning and the bases loaded and got a pop-up in the infield to get out of the jam. DePaolis pitched 1.1 innings and gave up two runs for his third save of the season.

Salvia led the offense with three hits and four RBIs including a two-run homerun. Kaczka and Merrill both had two hits apiece with Kaczka scoring two runs and knocking in three runs including a two-run homerun. Merrill also scored three runs and had five stolen bases.

The Knights are now 3-0 and face rival HFL on Wednesday at HFL.