Saint Mark’s homers power Spartans to 9-7 win at Cape
Zack Gelof led off his Senior Day with a double to right center field off Saint Mark’s pitcher Jacques Dubecq.
Zack was given the game ball for his 100th career hit, then promptly stole third base and was signaled home by his younger brother Jake. The Vikings led 1-0, with ace David Erickson on the mound.
Austin Elliott had thrown out a Spartans runner at the plate in the top of the inning on a nice tag play by catcher Zach Savage.
“A preview to playoff baseball,” said coach Ben Evick after his team fell 9-7 May 21. “We couldn’t have asked for a better matchup. We learned some things about ourselves today.”
Cape lost the kinda crazy game after scoring six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, highlighted by a Zach Dale bases-clearing triple to take the lead 7-5. The Spartans came right back in the top of the fifth on a three-run homer by Joey Lungen off lefty reliever Mason Fluharty for an 8-7 lead. The Spartans would push across another in the top of the seventh, while Saint Mark’s reliever Josh Venti came in in the fifth inning and shut the door on the Vikings, allowing no hits and striking out seven over the final three innings.
“We gave up too many walks, struck out too much with runners on base and gave up two home runs to players in the bottom of the batting order,” Evick said. “But that’s baseball. A long season, and we lost three games, but so did they.”
Saint Mark’s, a baseball program that has won 10 Delaware state championships, is always looking to manufacture runs and take extra basses. The Spartans put a runner on third with nobody out in the top of the second, but Erickson struck out the side to end the threat.
The Spartans seemingly scored the tying run in the top of the third when a Spartans runner and Cape third baseman Jake Gelof got tangled up at the bag. The ball rolled foul but was still in play, and the runner got up and scored. But after a long umpire consultation, the runner was put back on third base. The closest to a high school rhubarb ensued as a Saint Mark’s coach was “restricted” by the umpire, the equivalent of being grounded in high school baseball.
Elliott and Dale each struck out in the bottom of the third with the bases loaded, leaving “ducks unlimited” on the pond.
Cape closes the regular season with a 15-3 record. The Spartans are also 15-3.
The tournament committee meets Tuesday, May 22, and it’s “a bit of a mess,” Evick said. “There are some teams that won’t have the required 18 games because of all the rainouts. We just want to stay in the top four.”
The top four teams get byes, while the remaining field kicks off the tournament Thursday, May 24.
