BRANDYWINE HUNDRED — Jackson LaPerle and Carsten Kaiser put on a pitching clinic when Concord hosted Archmere in a meeting of baseball unbeatens on April 17. In the end, LaPerle and the Raiders were just a tick better, taking a 2-1 decision to remain undefeated at 10-0.
This marked the third straight season that the Raiders and Auks came down to the final out.
After Archmere caught a Raiders runner in a rundown for the second out of the first inning, Concord was left with two men on base. Ryan Brooks brought both home with a triple down the right field line. It was the Raiders’ third hit of the inning; they would collect just one more the rest of the afternoon.
That was enough for LaPerle. The senior gave up a single in the first and was not in trouble until the fifth. That inning, Hunter Skelton walked with one out, but his courtesy runner was picked off. Charlie Malloy walked, and Michael Donovan legged out an infield single, but Raiders second baseman Jack Pope ranged far to his right to field a Mason Nowaczyk ground ball to end the inning.
Kaiser walked the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the third, but he got out of the inning with a strikeout and a fly ball to center off the bat of Carleton Borden. The lone hit he allowed after the first came in the fifth, when LaPerle singled to left.
Pope moved from second base to the mound to close out the game in the seventh, but the Auks would not go away quietly. PJ Blessington opened the frame with a double, and he moved to third on an infield single by Silas Aulick, who then stole second. After a strikeout, Malloy flied out to center, scoring Blessington. Pope sealed the win for the Raiders by grabbing a chopper up the middle and flipping the ball to first.
LaPerle allowed the three hits and struck out four. Concord, which played its third game in three days, is off until April 23, when they travel to district rival Brandywine at 3:45 p.m.
Kaiser struck out four and retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced. Nowaczyk, the right fielder, had five putouts, including a sliding catch on a sinking line drive in the first inning. The Auks (5-1) make one of the longest commutes in the state for their next game on Saturday, which is at Indian River at 11 a.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
