OCEAN CITY – After a 6-10 start to the season, the Ocean City Red Raiders have played some of their best baseball with the postseason quickly approaching.
Ocean City solidified a spot in the postseason with a five-game win streak fueled by great pitching performances.
The Raiders’ most recent win was a 5-0 shutout over Pennsville High School on May 15. Senior Evan Taylor pitched six innings where he allowed four hits and struck out 11 batters. Fellow pitcher Kameron Street helped Taylor out with a 2-RBI double in the first inning for some early run support.
Taylor’s pitching has come on strong in the second half of the season as he has gone deep into multiple games. In his last two starts, Taylor pitched 13 out of 14 possible innings and has only given up one run. His aggressive style earned him 22 strikeouts in his last two games.
He has also been chasing a batting milestone as he finished the game against Pennsville needing only one more hit to reach 100 total for his career.
Taylor reached 99 hits after getting two in a dominant 14-0 win over Mastery High School of Camden on May 12. Kyle Williams led the team with three RBIs as the Raiders jumped on Camden Mastery early with 13 runs in the first two innings.
Six different Ocean City players recorded an RBI as the Raiders stayed true to their winning formula this season. So far this year the Raiders have succeeded most when they have built a lead in the early innings and then lean on their pitching staff to close.
The trio of pitchers Ocean City sent to the mound against Camden Mastery could not have played much better as they combined for a perfect, albeit shortened game. The Raiders retired 15 consecutive batters led by starter Nolan Boushard, who pitched three innings with five strikeouts. The senior started off the Ocean City win streak with a five-inning shutout performance back on May 2 against Lower Cape May.
Travis Large came in for Boushard and retired his three batters in an instant. Three outs away from a perfect game sophomore Frank Steelman made his Raider debut in the final inning. He made the most of his opportunity and picked up three more strikeouts for Ocean City to close the game.
Boushard and Large have started games this season and will likely get one more chance in the regular season to pitch before the playoffs begin.
Ocean City’s final two games of the regular season will be back-to-back home games on May 22 and 23. The first game will be against Williamstown High School with the following day featuring a matchup against Gloucester Catholic High School. Both games are set to begin at 4 p.m.
Postseason play is set to begin on May 27 with the seeding and matchups being announced a couple days prior.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
