MILLTOWN — Saint Mark’s had held the Cape Henlopen baseball team scoreless for five innings on May 9, but they still needed six outs to beat the defending state champions. Cape scored three times in the sixth to cut the Spartans’ lead to one, but Saint Mark’s was able to hold off the Vikings for a 5-4 victory.
A pair of sophomores started the game: Brad Marks of Saint Mark’s and Jaxon Clampitt of Cape Henlopen. They were effective most of the afternoon, but the Spartans were able to do just enough to hand Cape its first loss against a Delaware opponent this season.
Cape loaded the bases in the first, but Marks was able to coax a popup from Brady Kosc to escape trouble. The Spartans then went to work against Clampitt and the Vikings.
Tyler Mosher led off with a walk, and Jameson Summerill bunted in an attempted sacrifice. The throw to second base, however, skipped into the outfield, and both runners were safe. Garrett Quinn then singled to left, driving in Mosher. A bad throw home allowed both Summerill and Quinn to advance. Zach Frame took advantage, singling to left to bring Summerill home, and Caleb King would later plate Quinn with a sacrifice fly.
The first two Vikings reached in the top of the third, but a ground ball to Todd Gilardi turned into a double play, helping Marks escape further trouble.
Reed Thompson came in to pitch for Cape Henlopen in the fourth, and the first Spartan to bat, Dillon Thomas, greeted him with a single to center. Saint Mark’s loaded the bases with one out, and Quinn hit into a fielder’s choice to drive Thomas home.
Cape got to Marks in the sixth. With one out, Jase Mitchell walked. He moved to second on a groundout and scored on a single by Nick Cox. The next batter, Clampitt, turned on a Marks offering and lined a home run over the wall in left, scoring Cox ahead of himself.
The Spartans added an insurance run in the sixth, and it would come in handy. Mosher struck out with one out, but he reached first on a wild pitch. He also took second after another wild pitch. A ground ball moved him to third, and Quinn legged out an infield single for his third run batted in of the day.
Quinn relieved Marks in the seventh and gave up a leadoff double to Isaac Terhune. He took third on a wild pitch, and a groundout to third by Lex Wescott drove him home. Quinn got the next batter on a strikeout, and Mitchell chopped a ground ball to second baseman Matt McDonald, who threw him out to finish the game.
Quinn was on base four times, with three singles and three runs batted in. Mosher reached three times and scored twice. The Spartans (14-1) travel to Middletown on Thursday at 4 p.m.
For the Vikings, Terhune had three hits and a run scored. Tim Hitchcock was on base three times. Cape fell to 12-4 and is on the road Thursday at Indian River. First pitch is at 4:15 p.m.
All photos by Mike Lang.
