Cape baseball downs Sussex Tech 8-6

"You gotta pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don’t come easy.” - Ringo Starr

Cape senior pitcher Diaz Nardo had lost two one-run games the last two years to Sussex Tech by 2-1 and 1-0 margins, and in his high school career he had never been on a team that had beaten the Ravens - which means no one in the active program had ever beaten their Route 9 rivals. Ozzie knows better than anyone that beating Tech in baseball doesn’t come easy.

Cape was leading 3-1 on a picture-perfect spring afternoon entering the bottom of the sixth inning and pushed five runs across the plate highlighted by a Kai Vitella double with the bases loaded, chasing three runs home. Jon Warren had led off the inning with a double and was knocked home on a base hit RBI by Cody Dmiterchik, who was chased home on a hit by Griffin Kammerer.

The Vikings and Nardo took a chair-and-a-half-sized cushion into the top of the seventh, where the Ravens pushed across five runs and had two men on base when Nardo recorded the final out and an 8-6 Cape victory.

“Yes, I’ve been in lots of battles in football and baseball, but this is a rivalry; I’m just happy to close it out,” Nardo said. When asked if the home plate ump was squeezing him in the last inning, Nardo said, ”No, he was pretty tough the entire game.”

Coach Ben Evick told his team after the game, ”That is a big win for us. They are a really good team. And they taught us something, to never quit playing, because they battled back to the very last out.”

Adam Marcinizyn had a pair of hits for Cape in addition to two RBIs.

Drew Love was 2 for 4 for the Ravens, including an RBI.

Cape, now 2-2,  played at Laurel Thursday, April 11, and will be at Queen Anne's County Saturday, April 13.

Sussex Tech lost for the first time after wins over Sussex Central and Newark. The Ravens hosted Delmar April 11.