No. 6 Oakville's offense too much for Francis Howell North

May 3, 2011

Written by Mike Rosenbaum

After handing No. 5 Parkway South their first loss of the season on Saturday, No. 6 Oakville stayed hot on Monday, as they hammered Francis Howell North 10-4.

The Tigers (16-3) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the second inning thanks to six hits, two of which went for extra bases. After DH Chad Gendron singled to start the frame, RF Jake Lund plated him with a double. A couple batters later, 1B Tommy Breunig singled in a run, and after singles 2B Shawn Buckman and LF Mike Shore, CF Sean Keeney ripped a two-run double. Oakville picked up their fifth run of the inning on a groundout by 3B Tim Chambliss.

In the third inning, the red-hot Oakville offense picked up right where they had left off the previous inning, and extended their lead to 8-0. With Gendron and Lund on base, C Dalton Bray drove in the Tigers? sixth run with an RBI single. With one out, Buckman picked up his second hit in as many innings, as he plated both Lund and Bray with a two-run single.

Francis Howell North (14-9) responded with a three-spot in the home half of the inning, highlighted by an RBI double from C Mike Wilson and an RBI single from 1B Dan Define.

The 8-3 score held until the bottom of the sixth when RHP/INF Kyle Shikori, who doubled to lead off the inning, scored on an Oakville infield error.

With the game now within one swing for the Knights, Oakville pulled away in their final at-bat, adding two more runs to increase their lead to 10-4.

Just as they had done in the third, Gendron singled to lead off the inning and immediately scored on a double by Lund, who would later score on a wild pitch.

RHP Tom Bohnert improved to 3-0 this season after allowing four runs on seven hits on Monday. The senior walked three, fanned one and hit a batter over five innings.

Several players turned in big games at the plate for the Tigers: Lund was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, three runs and two RBI, Keeney was 1-for-3 with two RBI, and Buckman was 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Gendron, the clean-up hitter, served as the table-setter for the Oakville offense, going 2-for-4 and scoring three runs, while both Bray and Breunig collected two hits and drove in a run.

For Howell North, Wilson was 1-for-3 with a double and RBI, and Define was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the loss on Monday. RF Cale Laughlin and 2B Jon Richardson each had a hit and scored a run, as well.

Notes:

Howell North catcher Mike Wilson hit his 12^th double of the season and is currently hitting .591.

Oakville?s middle-infield combo of SWIC-bound SS Ryan Simmons and junior 2B Shawn Buckman looked sharp, as they turned both a 4-6-3 and 6-4-3 double play in the game

Gendron reached base to lead off the second, third, and seventh innings, and scored each time.

In the bottom of the seventh, Howell North CF Bryan Ryberg hit a triple later to right-center, but was called out after the bat he used was deemed to be ?illegal? by the umpires

Oakville?s 4-8 hitters were a combined 11-for-18 with nine runs scored and six RBI.