Prep Baseball: Rockets rout Whip-Purs
BURLINGTON -- George Heller's two-run home run in the third inning effectively opened the floodgates for Burlington Central on Thursday.
Trailing Hampshire by a run, Heller stepped to the plate with one out and a runner on first base and smacked an opposite-field drive over the right-field fence to give the Rockets their first runs of the game.
(Michael Smart/Staff Photographer)
Central didn't stop there, though, as it batted around in both the third and fourth innings and sent eight players to the plate in the fifth before putting a cap on a 12-2 Big Northern Conference East Division victory against the Whip-Purs.
The offensive outburst was a welcome one for the Rockets, who snapped a three-game losing streak and improved their record to 12-10 overall and 5-4 in the BNC East.
"We haven't really been doing much offensively, and to do this is a big turnaround," said Heller, who was also the winning pitcher. "Everybody started to hit, and hopefully we're starting to turn it around."
The Rockets also avenged a 1-0 loss to Hampshire (12-11, 5-5) earlier this season that snapped Central's seven-game win streak against the Whips. The Rockets managed only two hits in that contest, and early on Thursday it appeared they might struggle against Hampshire starter Erik Chellberg.
However, Heller's home run appeared to rattle Chellberg, who had been given a 1-0 lead when Hampshire's Tyler Bentley connected for an RBI double in the top of the second.
After Heller's blast, Chellberg issued two straight walks and hit a batter before giving up a two-run single to Matt Maciaszek. Central's Bryan Bell then led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run that put the Rockets ahead 5-1 and chased Chellberg.
Hampshire reliever Bo Price couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing four more runs in the fourth before surrendering the final three runs in the fifth, the last of which came on a bases-loaded walk to Central's Drew Perly with two outs. The Whips' defense didn't do much to help Chellberg and Price, committing four errors.
"Our pitching kind of went sour, then the defense followed and our hitting followed after that," Hampshire coach Steve Ream said. "(Chellberg) seemed to lose his composure, and that helped to kind of turn this into an ugly game. Unfortunately the defense followed right along. I was very disappointed with our effort."
James Goebbert accounted for Hampshire's other run when he belted a solo home run in the fifth. Chellberg's pitching record slipped to 3-2 with the loss.
Heller (5-1) was sharp in earning the complete-game victory, allowing only four hits, striking out seven, walking none and hitting a batter.
Among the leaders in Central's nine-hit attack were Bell (2-for-2, 2 runs), Maciaszek (2-for-3), Zack Romando (2-for-3, 2 runs), Austin Jarvis (3 runs), Tyler Wilkening (2 RBIs, 2 runs) and Mark Gorney (2 RBIs).
"We hadn't been taking a lot of good at-bats lately, but I think we took good at-bats today," Central coach Kyle Nelson said. "We swung at good pitches early in the count, once we saw (Chellberg) struggling with his control we let him get in trouble and we hit good hitter's pitches in good hitter's counts today.
"They shut us out last time and they threw a great game against us last time. We were definitely ready today."