Despite ominous clouds in the sky, the Roth Law Stratford Bantam
Nationals Select team travelled to Flesherton on Sunday , July 16th to
take on the home team Rangers for a scheduled double header.
The Nationals took game one 9-5 behind impressive performances from game starter Riley Collens and reliever Daemyn Marlow who both battled strongly whenever the Rangers threatened. Collens struck out 4 over his four innings of work and Marlow struck out 4 in his two innings of work.
Despite being down 3-1 after the third inning, the visiting Nationals found their groove. Backed by aggressive base running, patience at the plate and timely hits, Stratford pushed through 5 runs in the fourth inning to take the lead and never looked back.
Matthew Tuer, Jared Jackson, Wyatt Murray stroked singles in the fourth inning and Jacob Roth doubled in a three run sixth inning.
Riley Collens, Anthony Guzvinec, Jared Jackson, Noah Wilker and Sam Szmon all reached base.
Nolan White-Roy played an excellent first base for Stratford.
Mother Nature was cruel to the visiting Nationals in game 2. Playing as the home team, Stratford was up 4-3 and needed one more out to make it an official 5 inning game, but the skies opened up and a relentless downpour made the diamond unplayable, stripping the team of a likely two game sweep.
Stratford jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning which included clutch singles from Holden Duebbers and Wyatt Murray. In the second inning, after Noah Wilker moved Matthew Tuer over to second, Sam Szmon knocked in the Nationals fourth run with a two out single.
Jacob Roth started on the mound for Stratford and pitched strongly over four innings giving up no hits, striking out 8 and giving up one run.
Marlow came in again in relief for the Nationals and pitched strongly against a determined Ranger team that clawed its way back within one run. After Marlow got a strikeout for the second out, the rain denied Stratford the opportunity to close the game out. The inning included a great defensive play by Noah Wilker who took a grounder at third and fired a laser beam to the plate to cut down the runner going home.
Matthew Tuer and Nolan White-Roy were notably strong defensively at second base and first base respectively.
Anthony Guzvinec, Daemyn Marlow, Jacob Roth, Riley Collens, Matthew Tuer, Jared Jackson all reached base for the Nationals.