By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

DOVER – In baseball there are a number of things an individual can control, chief among those is your effort and preparation. But, there are also things that are entirely out of a player’s hands.

“You can’t really control nature,” Bloomingdale senior Jack Owens said on Wednesday.

Owens was absolutely cruising on the mound for the Bulls on Monday in a district game against Strawberry Crest, pitching four innings and limiting the Chargers to a run on a single hit when lightning in the distance forced a delay, then suspension of the game with Bloomingdale leading by two runs.

Wednesday, the game resumed in the bottom of the fifth and Crest looked positioned for comeback as Akhil Nimmala reached on a throwing error, moved over on a Damien Bennett sac bunt, and scored when Lance Highsmith lined a single into center.

But that was it for the rally as Bloomingdale answered back with two runs, including an RBI double from Owens to secure a 5-2 victory in the one-hour finish from the restart.

“We had to go home, wait a day and think about what our strategy would be coming back the next day,” Owens said. “(Strawberry Crest) put up a fight and scored a run in the bottom of the fifth, so we could have either backed down or really dug deep. We put up two right after that … and got the job done.”

Zach Redner’s RBI single into right gave Strawberry Crest (11-5, 1-1 in Class 6A-District 7) the quick lead in the first on Monday, but Bloomingdale (11-7, 3-0 in 6A-7) answered back scoring two runs in the third when Bobby Rossi sent a single into centerfield.

Since earning a shot in the every-day lineup in mid-March, Rossi has been a steady bat currently riding a six-game hitting streak.

“I just went up there trying to get the win, trying to get the boys fired up with the bases loaded,” Rossi recalled of his third-inning at-bat 48 hours earlier. “I went up there with two outs and thought, ‘I’ve got to get this game going for us.’”

The Bulls tacked on a fourth-inning run when Owens singled through the right side to score Tyler Clinton. As Owens went to work on the mound, walking just one and striking out seven before a lightning strike alerted the umpires to pause and then suspend the game as the rain began to pour on Monday.

Wednesday, the Bulls got an inning each from seniors Tephen Montgomery and Chase Chappell, before junior Trey Wilson finished off the game and earned his third save.

The Chargers had late hope as Akhil Nimmala started the seventh with a leadoff double and was joined on the bases by Highsmith, who was hit by a pitch. But Wilson got a pair of groundouts and kept the runners from scoring.

Strawberry Crest managed just three hits in the game and struck out 11 times in the loss, while Bloomingdale struck out eight times but pounded out 12 hits including a 2-for-5, two run, one RBI showing from senior Dawson Harman, doubles from Colby Shelton and Tyler Clinton, and a pair of hits from Alex Vazquez.

“We weren’t playing this game (on Wednesday) like it was the bottom of the fifth,” Rossi said. “We looked at it as a whole new ballgame, and we tried to get base hits, rattle them as much as we could, and get the win.”

Bloomingdale will continue with district play on Friday when the Bulls host Lennard, while Strawberry Crest stays in 6A-7 traveling to Tampa Bay Tech tomorrow and hosting Sickles on Friday.

Bloomingdale 5
(5) Strawberry Crest 2

B    002|102|0 – |5|12|1
SC 100|010|0 – |2|3|x
2B – Shelton, Ty. Clinton, Owens (B); Ak. Nimmala (SC). Records – B (11-7, 3-0 in 6A-7); SC (11-5, 1-1 in 6A-7).