Orange dominates Blue 9-2 to take 1-0 series lead

Orange dominates Blue 9-2 to take 1-0 series lead

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A nearly flawless pitching performance from a trio of hurlers gave the Orange team a 9-2 victory in the first game of the Fall World Series over the Blue team Friday afternoon at the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.

The first hit of the game was a solo home run over the leftfield fence by Austin Kearney to put the Orange team ahead 1-0.

A sacrifice fly by Cade Snapp brought home a run in the bottom of the third inning to make it 2-0.

Back-to-back doubles by Kearney and Joe Rotelli added a run for the third straight frame to make it 3-0 after four innings of action.

In the fifth inning, the Orange squad piled up three runs. With one out, Snapp blasted a cranked the first pitch he saw from Phillip Pardue over the left-centerfield fence for a two-run homer. Rotelli added his second RBI double of the game to extend the lead to 6-0.

A three-run inning in the sixth pushed the Orange lead to 9-0 with the big blast coming from Snapp's bat, a long blast over the leftfield fence.

Vince Apicella tossed six no-hit innings striking out seven with one walk in the contest as the Blue squad did not pick up its first hit until a double to rightfield by Brandon Roberts. A groundout by Hunter Wood put the Blue team on the board in the top of the seventh. A single by Trevor Lee allowed Roberts to score to make it a 9-2 contest.

Austin Ray, the Blue team's starter, went 4.1 innings yielding four earned runs on five hit with six strikeouts and two walks.

Kearney went 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs scored while Snapp drove in four runs on his two home runs in the game.

Game two of the series will be played following Saturday's football game at approximately 4 p.m. Tentatively there will be an audio broadcast for the contest at cneagles.com/live.

- CN -