OCEAN CITY – After a slow start to the season creating runs, the Ocean City Red Raiders scored in just about every way possible against Cedar Creek High School last week.
Brady Williams stole home plate to get the Raiders on the board early and later helped break the game wide open in Ocean City’s 8-3 win April 21. The Raiders’ offense created traffic on the bases all day long with 10 hits, led by Josh Pashley who had an RBI on top of going three for four at the plate.
Despite all the base runners, Ocean City did not have an easy time bringing them home and had to get creative like Williams. With two outs on the board and no easy way to score, he gambled and caught the catcher and pitcher slacking on the throw to the mound and successfully stole home without a throw even being made.
Josh Lenko had two more RBIs in the early innings to give the Raiders a solid 3-0 lead that left them wanting a little more.
“We were missing the timely hits at the start and I believe we left four guys on third base,” Ocean City head coach Andrew Bristol said. “We brought some runs home early like we had to but left some meat on the bone until finally that last inning.”
The three-run lead was not enough to keep Cedar Creek at bay and by the time the top of the sixth inning finished, the game was tied at three runs apiece.
Every run missed throughout the game was made up for in the bottom of the sixth with Ocean City sending its whole nine-man lineup to the plate.
The Raiders rattled off five runs in the inning and had freshman Corey Clemens score the go-ahead run in another unorthodox way. Clemens had Preston Pahang on third base and lined up for a bunt. The ball perfectly struck Clemens’s bat and crawled along the third base line and stayed fair before resting in between third base and home plate.
After Clemens’ bunt left everyone safe, the wheels started to fall off for Cedar Creek. Pashley had his RBI add an insurance run followed by Wes Andrews and Kameron Street.
Street helped his own cause with his sacrifice fly after he went five innings on the mound. He finished with four hits and two earned runs but struck out six and only walked two as he waited for the Raiders to finally take advantage of their base runners.
“Early on in the year he was pitching well and we couldn’t get a hit and we know what we have on the mound from him,” Bristol said. “This is his fourth year on the mound, and he is a dog up there. We just have to get him runs. We knew we had to get a certain amount of runs to beat this team and got that.”
Lenko came in to close out the game for Street after his big day on offense. He pitched two innings and gave up three hits and a walk but allowed one run that tied the game. Lenko came right back in the bottom of the inning and hit another single to help counteract the allowed run. His final three outs were over in around 10 pitches in a fast conclusion to an explosive finale to the game.
Ocean City’s record stands at 5-8 with a visit from Absegami High School next on the docket. The Raiders’ game against Absegami will start a long stretch of games in which they will only play against Cape-Atlantic League opponents including Hammonton High School and Holy Spirit. The game against Absegami will be 4 p.m. May 1.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
