By Christopher Shaban
Staff Writer
CLAREMONT — Cardinal bats scored a total of 34 runs across two games against the Newport Tigers.
In game one played in Newport, Dom Puksta’s towering home run into the Sugar River started a huge day for the Cardinals as he went 2-3 with two walks to go along with his five RBIs during a 23-11 win in the first game of a home and home double header with Newport.
With the game tied 4-4 after a bloody first inning, the Cardinals took over with 10 runs over the next two innings. The Cardinal lumber came alive as the bats were filled with RBIs aplenty for Paul Silva’s Cardinals. Owen Taylor, Ty Therriault, Cody Pellerin, Caden Ferland and Colby Shepard all had multiple RBI days for the Cards. Zack Bundy picked up the win fanning six Tigers along the way while Josh Sharron carried the big stick for the Tigers as he ended the game with a 3-4 hit performance.
The Cardinals won 23-11.
In game two played in Claremont,
With a win in their pocket, Stevens headed to Claremont for game two under the lights with their big lefty, Taylor, on the mound while Newport countered with Josh Orlowski.
Newport drew first blood as Orlowski helped his own cause with a single for an RBI and a Newport lead.
Not to be outdone, Taylor got back at Orlowski with an RBI single of his own to tie things early. A beautiful sliding catch in left field by Hayden Patenaude robbed the Cards of more runs as the score stood 1-1.
The Tigers grabbed the lead once again when Bryce Ashley beat out an infield single in a bang bang play at first that scored a run and bought Silva out of the dugout. Taylor would rear back and snuff out the Newport rally with an inning ending strike out with the bases full of Tigers.
Stevens would find their hitting shoes and by the time the fourth inning had ended, the Cards were in control. With the bases full of Cardinals, a combination of throwing errors and heads up Cardinal base running plated three runs then Bundy’s single plated two more runners as the score grew to 8-2 in Stevens favor.
Teams traded a few more runs late in the game as the Cardinals would close out the sweep with an 11-3 win.
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