Valley baseball fans had to be pleased with the home opener on March 26, when the Thunderbolts downed Rocky Ford 7-0 and 11-1.
Brock Benz got the win in the 7-0 opener, pitching four scoreless innings and striking out nine batters; while walking only three and giving up two hits. Camden Steele came in and finished up the game, striking out half a dozen Meloneers of his own, while walking a pair and giving up one hit.
Ben Compton went 3 for 3 at the plate and Riley Rochester had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Taye McCauley also had a pair of hits and two RBI’s. Will Hamler had 15 opportunities and had 15 put outs in the field.
In the second game the run rule kicked in and the Rye team downed their visitors 11-1.
Riley Rochester was awarded the win after pitching the first inning. Rochester struck out two and walked two in the lone inning he pitched. Ben Compton threw three perfect innings with no runs, no walks, no hits and no errors, striking out three in the process.
Taye McCauley went 3-3 in the second game with an RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Branden Benz had a pair of hits, scored twice, and had two RBI’s. Joe Valdez also drove in two.
McCauley and Hamler were both perfect in the field, handling 13 put outs between them without an error.
“It was a good start to league play and great to get solid wins at home,” shared Head Coach Clay Klipfel.
“We started off a little slow and did not execute as well as we would want to offensively, but picked it up as the games went on. Defensively between our pitching and our fielding we looked very smooth and had two errorless games. Our pitchers threw strikes and only gave up seven walks in two games. Walks and errors are something we stress and we executed that well, giving us a good chance at winning.”