Cane Cutters News

           The Cane Cutters and the Woodlands Strykers played a double header today to make up for a cancelled game earlier in the season for their third and fourth games of the season against each other.  The Cane Cutters have won both of the games against the Strykers this season and hope to continue their success.  They are looking to end the month of June on a good note.

            In game 1, the Cane Cutters wasted no time in getting on the board to grab the lead.  They put up two runs in the top of the first inning.  Mike Barba led off the inning and got on base because of a hit by pitch.  Mitchell Nau came up two batters later and hit a homerun (first of the season) to give the Cane Cutters a 2-0 lead.

            The Strykers put their first runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning.  They got a runner on first and third with one out.  Garrett Lozano came up next and was able to get on base with an error by the pitch.  Michael Rosario and Brian Brightwell also came into score due to that error which tied the ballgame at 2-2.

            The next three innings went by with the Cane Cutters recording two hits but not able to capitalize with any runs.  The Strykers also had no luck.  The Cane Cutters pitching was able to shut them down allowing no hits or runs in those three innings.

            It came down to the to the last inning to see if a winner would be determined.  The Cane Cutters came up in the top of the inning and went three up and three down.  The Strykers had a little more success.  Rosario came up as the second batter of the inning and drew a walk.  Ryan Farney came up next and singled advancing Rosario to second base.  The Strykers now had a runner on first and second with one out.  The next batter, Brian Brightwell, hit a ground ball to shortstop who flipped to second for the second out and then made the throw to first base for the attempted double play.  The double play was not a success though because of an error by the first baseman which also brought home the winning run.

            The Cane Cutters and Strykers both were only able to get three hits each in the game.  It was a pitcher’s game.  Mitchell Nau was the lone contributor for the Cane Cutters going 1-3 with a homerun and 2 RBIs.

            Zac Person started his fourth game of the season for the Cane Cutters pitching five and two-thirds innings.  He gave up two earned runs on two hits, walking two and striking out five.  Scott Shimp relieved Person and pitched two-thirds of an inning giving up one run on one hit and walking one.  He also received the loss putting his record at 2-1 for the season.

Game 2

            The Cane Cutters hoped to get off to a good start in the second game just like what they did in the first game and they did just that.  They wasted no time in putting up the first run of the game in the top of the first inning.  Isaac Rodriguez and Mitchell Nau got on base with a single and a walk, respectively.  Andrew Brown came through as the next batter and drove in Rodriguez to put the score at 1-0.

            The Cane Cutters added some more runs in the second inning.  Austin Roussel singled and then Tyler Kamtz hit a home run (first of the season) to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Cane Cutters.

            The Strykers did not wait too much longer to put some runs on the board.  They were able to tie the ball game in the bottom of the second inning.  Carter Burgess singled to start off the inning.  He was able to steal second base before Shaun Hoover doubled which drove Burgess home for their first run.  They put two more runs in the inning with a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Brightwell.  The inning would end in a 3-3 tie.

            In the bottom of the third inning, the Strykers were able to take the lead.  The first four batters each singled in the inning which scored two runs that gave the Strykers the 5-3 lead.  The next batter, Michael Rosario, sacrificed the runners from first and second over to second and third with only one out.  Travis Winnon came up to bat next and singled driving in two more runs making the score 7-3.  Winnon also advanced to second on an error by the right fielder.  Adrian Lopez came up next and hit a home run driving in two more runs bringing the score to 9-3.  The Strykers struck for six runs in the inning.

            The Strykers extended their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Rosario doubled for his second hit of the game.  Lopez came up two batters later and drove in Rosario for his third RBI of the game.  Winnon scored later on in the inning for the second time in the game on a groundout to the shortstop.  This put the lead at 11-3 for the Strykers at the end of the fourth inning.

            The Cane Cutters added a run in the top of the sixth inning.  Rodriguez doubled to get on base and then Andrew Brown singled to drive in Rodriguez.  That made the score 11-4 in favor of the Strykers.  This would be the last of the scoring for both teams.

            The Cane Cutters were able to string together twelve hits compared to only three in their first game.  Brown went 3-4 in the game with two RBIs.  Rodriguez went 2-4 with two runs scored.  Gabe Woods and Roussel also went 2-4 with Roussel scoring one run.

            Andrew Richardson did not have his best outing for the Cane Cutters.  He started his first game of the season.  He pitched two and one-third innings giving up nine runs on ten hits and striking out two. 

            The Cane Cutters will be glad to be able to head back home for a stretch of four games.  They just finished a six-game road trip and went 2-4 on it.  Their record is now 12-13.  The Strykers now have a record of 8-17.  The Cane Cutters hope to get one win out of the three-game series against the Strykers when they play them at Fabacher Field on Sunday.  It will be Slippery Sunday so come out, bring the family and enjoy the game.  Hope to see you there.

Boxscore:  http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=101381