The Crowder Dirtbags summer baseball team continued to hit the ball well and took advantage of some free passes to earn their third win of the season over the Ozark Generals Red River at Crowder College.
Crowder won the opener, 6-4 and then used a big inning to pull out a 6-5 victory in the second game.
The visiting Ozark Generals took a 2-0 lead in the opening game, before Crowder tallied six unanswered runs to take control of the game.
Oddly enough, the Dirtbags scored two runs in each of the even-numbered innings in the seven-inning affair.
Ozark, a member of the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas League, got a pair of runs in the top of the second inning and did so with only one hit. Trevor Long (Northern Oklahoma) walked and moved to second on a single by Alan Wright (Christian Brothers College). A sacrifice moved the runners up a base.
Justin Elmore (Labette County CC) got a ground ball to shortstop for an out, but drove in Long for the first run of the game. Weston Lewis (Colby CC) drew a two-out walk and he then stole second base. On the play, the ball was mishandled and Wright trotted home, making it 2-0.
The Dirtbags (7-4) scored two runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings to pull ahead.
Kevin Burgi was hit by a pitch to open the second inning and Jerrod White followed with a single to left field. Kendall San Paolo (Crowder) laid down a bunt and as he beat out the throw to first base, a wild throw allowed Burgi to score from second base.
White ended up at third base and San Paolo took second base on the error. Jeff White then came through with a ground ball out to score Jerrod White, tying the game at 2-2.
More hits and another big error allowed Crowder to score two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Jerrod White singled and advanced to third base when San Paolo doubled down the third base line. Cameron Beaver (Missouri Southern) got an RBI on a grounder to shortstop, but on the play the ball was booted and both runners on base scored on the play, making it 4-2.
It was another big error by Ozark (6-9) that allowed the Dirtbags to tack on more runs in the sixth inning.
San Paolo got his third hit of the game and moved up on Beaver’s single. On a passed ball, both runners moved up a base. However, on the play the Ozark catcher threw down to second base to try to get Beaver.
