Behind an offense that scored two or more runs in four different innings, the Miller baseball team dispatched St. Anne’s-Belfield in a 12-2 run ruling that lasted five innings.
“We swung the bats pretty well which is good because next week we’ll be seeing a different style of baseball down in South Carolina,” said Mavericks coach Billy Wagner. “I thought we handled business the way we needed to.”
After a scoreless first inning between the two, Miller poured on four runs in the fourth inning. Jack Marshall played Jeremy Wagner with an RBI single to make it 1-0. Then Tanner Morris cranked out a 2-run triple. On the next play Adam Hackenberg brought home Morris with an RBI single.
“We knew it was about staying back (at the plate) today facing the style of pitching we were,” Morris said. “We worked on staying back and trying to drive the ball to the opposite field.”
In the top of the third Ethan Murray made it 5-0 with his solo home run. And with two outs, a double from Wagner and RBI single from Lucus Knight extended the lead to six runs.
St. Anne’s — which came off a win over Woodberry Forest less than 24 hours between first pitches — picked up their two runs in the bottom of the third. With runners on second and third and one out, Van Spinelli came up with an RBI ground out. That set up an RBI double from Will Hass to cut things to 6-2.
“We take a lot out of this playing against a lot of next-level talent that Miller has,” said STAB coach Brian Yeagle. “This should only make us better as the season goes along. We’ve definitely got a lot to build.”
Miller answered with four runs in the top of the fourth. There Will Wagner picked up an RBI single and Carrson Atkins came through with an RBI triple, and later scored on an error to make it 10-2. In the fifth Hackenberg made it a double-digit game with his 2-run double.
“We just kept up the intensity and kept pushing,” Morris said. “You never want to settle in any part of the game.”
That set the table for Colin Wagner to finish the job in relief in the fifth. Wagner needed just eight pitches to wrap up the game.
Starting on the mound for Miller was Stuart Barrett who threw the first four innings. Barrett gave up just two hits while striking out three batters.
“He did a great job keeping the ball down in the zone,” Wagner said. “That’s what you want to see from the kind of pitcher he is, a sinker ball kind of guy. He got some big outs and there wasn’t a lot of good contact off him. That was important.”
On the day for the Mavericks, Morris finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI. Murray went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and RBI. Hackenberg was 2-for-4 with three RBI.
For the Saints, Will Hass was 1-for-3 with an RBI while Alex Markopoulos was 1-for-2.
STAB (5-8) will travel to face Fork Union on Tuesday at 4 p.m while Miller (10-3) travels to face River Bluff out of Lexington, SC on Monday, also at 4 p.m.
