River Hill hosted a four-team mini-tournament on Monday, March 25
during Spring break. River Hill, Oakland Mills, and Centennial from Howard
County were joined by Central High School from Erie, Pennsylvania. In their
morning game, the hawks beat a good Central High team that travels south each
year in March to play ball. In the bottom of the first inning, Ben Trapuzzano
reached first when he was hit by a pitch, and advanced to second on a ground
out by Brian Heinz. Trapuzzano reached third on a ground out by Justin
Bilohlavek and scored on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Trapuzzano led off with a walk. After a fly out by Heinz,
Bilohlavek was hit by a pitch. Wes McCoy grounded out, but Mike Anton
singled, scoring Trapuzzano and Bilohlavek. Ken Gilliam walked, moving Anton
to second. A clutch two-out line drive single by Dave Marquart scored the go-
ahead fourth run. Marrie left after 5 2/3 good innings, with four strikeouts.
Mike Anton finished out the last 1 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and no
runs allowed. It was a 4-3 win for the Hawks.
In the afternoon game, the Hawks faced Centennial, who had edged
Oakland Mills in the morning. The Eagles threw their ace, Brad Loveless,
against River Hill's Steve Cornelius. Centennial scored one in the first, two in
the second, and one in the fourth, while Loveless gave up only one hit, a single
by Cornelius, through the second inning. The Hawk batters caught up with
Loveless in the third, when Jeff Marquart led off with a walk, followed by a
single from Trapuzzano. Marquart scored and Trapuzzano advanced to third
on a line drive single by Brian Heinz. Heinz then stole second, and on a bad
throw to second, Trapuzzano scored and Heinz advanced to third. Heinz then
scored the tying run on a Justin Bilohlavek ground out. The third and last run
by the Hawks left them one short of Centennial's four. Steve Cornelius
pitched five good innings and Mike Anton pitched the sixth, striking out two.
Greg Roach played well at first base, with Justin Bilohlavek in the DH spot.
Nick Madiou did a very solid job as catcher in this second game. Centennial's
Loveless and closer Tom Phelan struck out 10. The entire River Hill defense
has played well during these cold, early season games.
|