Stratford knocks off Wando

March 14, 2007

 

Stratford scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and thwarted Wando’s two-out rally in the top of the seventh Wednesday in Goose Creek to hand the Warriors their first loss of the season and first region loss since 2005.

Wando (10-1, 1-1 Region VII-4A) scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 7-6 lead on Grayson King’s two-run single to left and King’s subsequent run on a wild pitch, but Stratford (6-4, 2-0) came back with some clutch two-strike hitting that was amplified by two Wando errors.

Aaron Preston scored on Mecho Bohren’s infield single and a Wando throwing error, followed by Josh Crout’s RBI-single to rightfield for an 8-7 lead. Cory Greer added an RBI-single to rightfield to make it 9-7 and later scored when Wando botched a double-play ball.

Wando didn’t go quietly in the top of the seventh. Just when it looked like they might, the Warriors rallying for a pair of runs with two outs. Danny Lynch had a two-out single to left to score a run and College of Charleston signee Cole Rakar tripled into the rightfield corner to make it 10-9 before Stratford’s Tyler Hill coaxed a ground-ball out to second to end the game.

Preston, Bohren, Crout and Greer all had two hits for the Knights, while Rakar and Drew Cisco had three hits to lead Wando.

Stratford used ace Nick Osterman, a College of Charleston commitment, and he threw 5.1 innings before being lifted for Hill, who got the win in relief.

The Knights used a three-run second to take a 4-3 lead and got an RBI-single from Greer in the bottom of the third and an RBI-double by Damon Ardis in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-3 advantage.

Lynch scored Rakar with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4 and King evened the scored with a two-run single to leftfield in the sixth. He later moved to third and scored the go-ahead run on wild pitches.

Final score: Stratford 10, Wando 9

Stratford meets James Island on Friday, while Wando takes on Orangeburg-Wilkinson.

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