Weary Cards Knock Off Wolves

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Lincoln junior Jacob Anderson delivers a pitch against Farmington. The Cardinals beat Lincoln, 13-3, in a run-rule shortened game April 11.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Lincoln junior Jacob Anderson delivers a pitch against Farmington. The Cardinals beat Lincoln, 13-3, in a run-rule shortened game April 11.

FARMINGTON -- The Cardinals (15-7) jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and never looked back in defeating Lincoln, 13-3, in five innings April 11 to break out of a slump.

"We struggled last week, we lost three of four games against good baseball teams," said Farmington coach Jay Harper. "We're trying to get better. We try to get in situations we can practice on, but we need a game to play through those situations.

Playing a Saturday game, Dierks defeated Farmington, 14-4, on April 8 in nonconference play. Dierks (16-2) scored 4 runs in each of the first and third innings and put the game away with a 6-run splash in the seventh inning. Farmington was led by Eric Hill, who went 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Kelton Price was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored and a home-run.

Part of the dilemma facing Harper and the Cardinals is -- they didn't take spring break off like many ball-clubs. The Cardinals traveled to Gulf Shores, Ala., to compete in a spring break tournament and several team members had to recover from the flu afterwards.

"I think our team is tired," Harper said. "We're trying to scale back a little bit and give them a little rest."

Against Lincoln, Farmington collected 13 hits in the win. Third baseman Ryan Larkin, went 4-for-4 with a triple and 3 RBIs. Blake Putnam had a double and 2 triples and 3 RBIs. Eric Hill also had two hits. Drake Vineyard earned the win on the mound, allowing just two Lincoln hits.

Farmington leadoff hitter Kelton Price got aboard, then scored off Larkin's RBI single. Putnam plated Larkin with a double and Farmington led 2-0. The Cardinals would tally 4 runs on 3 hits aided by one Lincoln error in the first inning.

Farmington again ramped up their offense in the second inning, scoring 6 runs on 3 hits, again aided by one Lincoln error. Trenton McChristian led off with a walk, going to second on a bad throw to first with Price batting. He danced into third on Price's ground-out, then scored on another Larkin RBI single. Tyler Gregg was hit by a pitch, then Putnam duplicated his feat of the first inning with an RBI double, moving to second on the throw home.

The Cardinals led 6-0 and were eager for more. Catcher Tripp Cheney drove in two more Farmington runs by blasting a double into the right corner. Hill got into the act when his single landed in center field. Lincoln caught a flyball for a second out, but with runners at the corners there was more scoring. Farmington starter Drake Vinyard found himself in prime position to help his cause and lashed out with a 2 RBI single to stretch the margin to 10-0 in favor of Farmington.

Lincoln loaded the bases in the top of the third. Jacob Anderson walked, Caleb Lloyd was hit by a pitch, and Sterling Morphis singled. Anderson slid into home, scoring on a sacrifice fly by the Wolves' Cordelle Whetsell. With runners at the corners, Vinyard induced a ground-out to get out of the inning with Farmington still in front, 10-1.

In the top of the fifth, Lincoln again made a rally. Chase Hutchens reached on an error with reliever Derek Perona pitching for Farmington. Hutchens stole second safely when a throw was made with no one to receive the ball. That brought Farmington coach Jay Harper out of the dugout, but Cheney made up for the miscue by locating a pop-up behind the plate and catching the ball to get Anderson out. Hutchens displayed his wheels by scoring from second on Lloyd's RBI single.

Morphis bunted and was tagged out by Gregg while approaching first base. Meanwhile, Lloyd went to second. Whetsell drew a walk and Josh Jetton came up to bat. Lloyd scored on a throwing error that went past third. The run brought Lincoln with 11-3, but the Wolves wouldn't get any closer. Perona ended the inning with a strike-out.

Farmington ended the game in the fifth inning. Price led off with a triple and was plated by Larkin's third RBI single of the contest, this one into shallow center field. That made the score 12-3, but Lincoln dug in trying to avoid a run-rule loss. Anderson and Gregg dueled with Gregg flying out to left field on a 3-2 pitch.

Putnam took a called strike to allow a base runner to steal third. With the count at 1-1 and a potential game-ending run 90 feet away, Lincoln coach Justin Bounds came out and Putnam was given an intentional walk. Hill came up with runners at first and third and again there was a battle. He swung and missed to even the count, at 2-2, prompting Bounds to implore his infield to focus on preventing a run from scoring.

Bounds emphasized the out must be recorded at home and that an out at first was irrelevant if a run scored.

The Wolves paid heed, because on the next pitch, ball-4 to Hill, a throw to third was dropped. Whetsell quickly recovered and threw out a pinch-runner, whom Jetton tagged out at the plate, prolonging the contest a little longer.

The intentional walk came back to bite Lincoln when Perona took ball-4 to walk in the game-ending run with Farmington claiming a 13-3 run-rule victory.

Sports on 05/03/2017