PLYMOUTH – It was a loss on opening night at Bill Nixon Field for Plymouth Post 27 but it was far from a bad night.
Bristol Post 143 took a 9-6 win over Plymouth Post 27 but six runs in the final three innings and some solid middle relief from four different pitchers had the Diamond Spyders smiling at the end of the game.
Grant Stukenborg had a rough start but relievers Bryce Bustamante, Galen Rentchler, Billy Harness and Myles Jageman all gave Post 27 a chance to win.
‘We’re still in that gel together stage, getting to know pitching roles, all that kind of stuff,” said Post 27 Manager Will Hostrawser, “At the end of the ball game we got a little more fire in here (the dugout), guys getting together and getting rolling. Even in our win the other night I don’t think we were all that opportunistic at the plate. Tonight, late at least I thought we put the ball in play a little bit more with a little bit more force so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.”
Plymouth took a win over Bristol earlier in the week but a lead off homer from Bristol’s Andrew Salmon put them on a role that Plymouth couldn’t recover from.
With just three hits in the seventh the Diamond Spyders avoided the shut out with two in the seventh, and then put themselves in striking distance with four more in the eighth. Nick Pritz’ two run double and an RBI single from Caleb Mikesell, as part of a two hit night, were the big hits.
“Each at bat is a different opportunity and I think that these kids are starting to see that,” said Hostrawser. “They threw a lot of different arms at us and changed things up. I thought we adjusted well at the end, and played a little more aggressively but I think a lot of that has to do with just getting more comfortable. I’m looking forward to the double header on Sunday. I think we’ll see some more of that.”
One thing Howstrawser and the Post 27 coaching staff is smiling about is a deep pitching staff for the coming season.
“That’s the first time in all the years of doing this that we had four arms sitting on the bench ready to go,” said Howstrawser. “We’ve never had that luxury. We can set our lineup to do a lot of different things. Right now we’re trying to figure out what our starting rotation is. We’ve got at least five arms we feel comfortable going with. I really like what’s developing here.
“There’s a lot of potential on this team as far as arms go, which is weird. Usually we’re scratching our head about our pitching and our hitting takes care of itself.”
Post 27 takes on Highland Post 180 in a doubleheader at Bill Nixon Field starting at 1 p.m on Sunday.
Linescore
Post 143 1 0 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 9-10-1
Post 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 6-6-2
WP – Clint Whitman. LP – Grant Stukenborg. HR – Salmon (B). 2B – Wilfong (B), Pritz (P), Machinac (P).
