No.1 Archbishop Spalding Tops No. 8 Loyola-Blakefield in MIAA Conference Opener
March 26, 2019
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No. 1 Archbishop Spalding hosted No.8 Loyola Blakefield on Monday afternoon for their first MIAA "A" Conference game of the season. The offense started early for the Cavaliers as they jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Uncommitted 2019 Austen Bishop opened the scoring for the home team with a two-RBI double to right field and Justin Caesar (UMBC) followed that up with a single back up the middle to drive in the third run.
The Dons answered in the top of the second with a deep solo homerun to right field off the bat of uncommitted 2020 Daniel Sheeler to make it 3-1. Other than that though, Cavs starting pitcher Zach Powers (Navy) held the Dons in check through five innings allowing just the one run on two hits while striking out eight. Powers was impressive showing great command of his fastball while keeping hitters off balance with his breaking ball.
On the rubber for the visiting Dons was Matthew Wyatt (Virginia), who gave up four runs on six hits in three innings of work. Wyatt struck out five but struggled to keep hitters guessing as the Cavaliers jumped on his fastball early in the game which lead to four runs in the first two innings.
The action died down a bit throughout the middle innings until the fifth when uncommitted 2021 Ben Wieman took an 0-2 pitch deep to left field for a solo homerun, extending the Cavaliers lead to 5-1. The Dons would try to rally back in the sixth, getting a sac-fly off the bat of Emmett Reynolds (Swathmore), but that was all they could muster. They would pick up another run in the top of the seventh cutting the deficit to two before Josh Moylan (East Carolina) came in to end the game on three straight fastballs. Archbishop Spalding improves to 1-0 in conference with the 5-3 win and Loyola-Blakfield falls to 1-1 in conference on the young season.
Whats next: No. 8 Loyola-Blakfield will host No. 3 Gilman on Wednesday in another big time early MIAA "A" Conference showdown while the No. 1 Cavs travel to No. 17 Archbishop Curley for another matchup featuring two Power 25 teams.