The bats were definitely alive for Mendon’s baseball team on Thursday.
And the pitching wasn’t far behind, either.
The Hornets started out hot and never cooled off, opening up the baseball season by beating host White Pigeon, 19-1 and 15-0, in a St. Joseph Valley doubleheader on Thursday.
Kaleb McCarroll
‘’We had two solid pitching performances and a lot of key hits to blow open both games,’’ Mendon coach Glen Samson said.
In the first game, Robert Riley gave up just one run and one hit over four innings, striking out 10. Kaleb McCarroll threw a four-inning shutout, allowing just one hit and striking out 11, in the second game.
“We haven’t played a game till tonight so we were a little nervous at first,” McCarroll said. “But our team did what we had to do. We came out with strong pitching and a sold defense behind us. Once we got the bats going and started scoring that always helps pitchers relax and be able to just throw strikes and not stress.”
Riley backed up his first-game pitching with four hits and two RBIs. Trey Cook, Logan Slaughter, Tommy Gifford and Zach Darmofal each had two hits. Gifford was the top RBI performer with three. The game was tied at 1 after the first inning, but Mendon went to work with seven runs in the second, four in the third and seven in the fourth.
Robert Riley
For White Pigeon, Barry Caraway had a single and scored the Chiefs’ lone run.
In the second game. Cook led the hitters with three and he also added three RBI. Riley, Joe Gales and Josh Hawkins each added two hits. White Pigeon’s hits came from Matt Eger and David Miller.
‘’Pitching will be the key to how the season goes,’’ White Pigeon coach Cliff Eger said. ‘’They will work to be better on the mound and improve as we go.
‘’We have a young team and we just have to develop.’’