The Purcellville Cannons (5-14) played a road game against their North division rival Winchester Royals (7-12) on Monday night. Powered by a six-run inning, the Cannons crushed the Royals, 11-2.
Garrett Hartley (Chattanooga State Tech) earned the start, his first in a Cannons uniform. Hartley faced a lot of batters in his four-inning start, but worked out of jams successfully. He gave up three hits, one run, walked four, and struck out two.
Purcellville jumped on the board in the second inning when Jose Gutierrez (Dallas Baptist) singled to center field to bring home Andrew Kasiski (Hampden Sydney). Morgan Hyde (Coastal Carolina) grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning, but brought home Gutierrez in the process to take a 2-0 lead.
After giving up one run in the bottom of the sixth, the Cannons broke open the game in the fourth inning with six runs on six hits. The frame was highlighted by two home runs, a three-run shot from Clayton Baine (Radford) and a two-run homer for Max Crabbe (Hawai’i). Nick Di Vietro (La Salle) also came around to score in the frame to give Purcellville an 8-1 lead.
Blaze Pontes (Hawai’i) came on in relief and pitched three innings, giving up two hits, one unearned run, one walk and one strikeout. Jakob Mattos (Coastal Carolina) and Angel Hernandez (Western Oklahoma) also pitched out of the bullpen.
The Cannons added insurance in the sixth inning when Crabbe added to his solid night with an RBI double. Jose Aquino (San Jacinto CC) doubled in Crabbe, along with Mike Brewer (Eastern Kentucky) reaching on an error to score Aquino. The Cannons held on the lead to win the ballgame 11-2.
Purcellville is back in action tomorrow against the Harrisonburg Turks at Fireman’s Field for a 7:00 PM first pitch.
Written by Joe Skinner, Cannons Broadcast and Media Relations Intern
