If you just saw the final score of this game, you wouldn't know that it was a pitcher's duel for 3 1/2 innings.
Monacan sophomore lefty Joey Crute squared off against Hanover freshman righty Jack Dragum. Monacan got on the board early, with a leadoff walk and a 2-out double that landed just fair in the RF corner. After that, Dragum continued to yield hits, most of them solid, but he kept Monacan off the board from that point. He finished with 4 innings, 1 run (earned), 6 hits, 5 K's, 1 BB, 1 HP. So Monacan had base runners and chances but was unable to capitalize.
Twice Monacan made stupid outs trying to steal third to kill what might have been rallies. Patrick Routsis hit a deep double leading off the second but, after 2 K's, Routsis took off for third and was out by a mile. Monacan then got two one-out singles in the third, tried to double steal and again saw Brady Didlake nail the runner at third with ease. When the hitter got the third consecutive single later in the AB, the three hits all came to naught. I don't know if holding off on these plays would've stopped what ultimately happened, but at best it took away a chance for Monacan to create a little space and build confidence for the second half of the game.
Crute baffled Hanover for three innings. This is not a kid who throws hard but he mixes pitches and tries to get batters to chase. It was 1-0 Monacan when Hanover came up in the bottom of the 4th. Two singles and a one-out walk loaded the bases, and Elliott Sledd tied the game with a hard sac fly to left. One out away from ending the inning in a 1-1 battle, the roof caved in.
A walk re-loaded the bases, Aaron Saunders singled to break the tie, Jack Dragum hit a swinging bunt with everyone safe (3-1), and then Cameron Grimes broke it open with a bases clearing double to the LCF fence (6-1). Didlake singled in Grimes (7-1) and Crute was finally pulled after facing 10 batters in the inning. Reliever hit his first guy, then walked the next two, and was pulled (8-1). Sledd then hit a towering pop behind third that seemed destined to end the miserable inning, but no, the ball was muffed, and all runners did their jobs, circling the bases (11-1). Only then did Monacan finally get that third out.
The saving grace of that last error was that it put the game in line for shortening under the slaughter rule. Hayden Moore came in for the 5th and overpowered Monacan's 1-2-3 hitters on K's to put them out of their misery.