La Habra,CA - Matthew Davis
The Shepherds opened their season with a 12-5 win over the Ventura County pirates.
Ritter Stienmann started the game for the Sheps and went three innings giving up one unearned run on five hits. He allowed one walk and struck out one as he set the tone and shut down the pirates to give his team the opportunity to go ahead.
Shane Poe highlighted the high-powered offensive display and earned the player of the game, having a 3-4 night with a walk, two runs and two RBI’s.
The Shepherds struck first as an error resulted in the first run of the Summer to put them up 1-0. Shane Poe got a hard earned twelve pitch walk in the bottom of the second inning before stealing second base and scoring on a ground ball to the second baseman that was booted into right field.
The Pirates tied it in the next half inning as a ground ball to first had a messed-up exchange between the first basemen and the pitcher as the ball rolled to the first base fence and a runner scored from second.
The Shepherd's offense answered right back in a big way as the Sheps scored six runs in the bottom of the frame to blow the game wide open and go up 7-1. Drew Salyers started the bottom of the third with a leadoff double and his teammates followed as the first seven batters reached base with three hits and four walks. The inning was capped off with a two out, bases loaded double by Rhett Stein to score two.
The Shepherds added four more in the fourth to go up 11-1 as JP Hefft had a sac fly while Shane Poe, Alex Laureano and Drew Salyers all got RBI singles.
However, the Pirates didn’t go down without a fight as they scored four in the top of the seventh, highlighted by a three run home run to cut the lead to six and make it 11-5.
It was not enough as the Sheps would add another and close it out to make the final score 12-5.
Notes
Shane Poe went 3-4 with 3 singles, 2 runs and 2 RBI’s
Rhett Stein went 1-2 with a double and 2 RBI’s
Sam Rudd went 1-2 with a walk and 2 runs
Drew Salyers went 2-3 with a walk, run and an RBI
Ritter Stienmann threw 4 innings with one walk, one strikeout and one unearned run
Cameron Kelly threw 2.2 innings with zero runs and 1 strikeout
What's Next?
The shepherds are back in action this Sunday at La Habra high school with two games against the Inland Valley Pirates with the first starting at 1:00 PM. The Sheps look to sink those pirates just as they did against Ventura County.