MILLTOWN – Appoquinimink took advantage of its scoring opportunities, and Mason Keene kept St. Mark’s bats in check as the Jaguars captured a 5-2 win on April 4. It was a matchup of two of the state’s top teams. Both entered the contest undefeated, with the Spartans at 4-0 and the Jags at 3-0.
Before Keene took the mound, he helped his team at the plate. He led off the game and drew a walk off Spartans starter Christian Colmery. Keene took second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on an errant pickoff throw. Lorenzo Carrier brought Keene home on a groundout to shortstop. Carrier singled with two outs in the third and scored on a dropped fly ball, doubling the Appo lead.
The Spartans got one of those runs back in their half of the third. Nick Pisorchik doubled down the left-field line with one out for the team’s first hit. He advanced on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
But the Jaguars added three runs their next time up. Jacob Conover walked to lead off the fourth, and Joey Davis followed with an infield single deep behind the third-base bag. Both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt, and they scored when Keegan Miller lined a single to left. Keene blooped a single to center, putting runners at the corners, and when Keene got caught in a rundown on the next pitch, Miller came home without a throw.
St. Mark’s scored the final run of the game in the fifth. Nick Muzzi was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to third on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. J.J. Psenicska drove him in with a two-out single.
Keene was as effective on the mound as he was at bat. He allowed the two runs on five hits, and he struck out five. His defense helped him out with a double play in the first inning, and twice he escaped trouble when the Spartans had two on with two outs. Second baseman Trevor Coleman helped him out in the fifth, collecting all three putouts on three popups. Krew Bouldin tossed two innings of one-hit relief for the save.
The Spartans (4-1) face Indian River on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Dagsboro. The Jaguars (4-0) play the third of five straight road games on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. at Concord.
