Sumner puts up total-team effort for win at Chamberlain

By Chuck Frye
Correspondent

TAMPA – Kennedy Duran knew what to do with the opportunity his Sumner squad presented to him: deliver his mission statement.

After building a substantial early lead Saturday morning against host Chamberlain, the Stingrays’ head coach rewarded the future of his nascent program. Those subs also shined in what became a 9-4 victory that already tops Sumner’s inaugural-year win total midway through Year Two.

“It’s one of those things, that’s how you build for the future,” Duran explained. “You hit your spots to put them in so they can grow and understand their development that way. It’s all about building a culture and setting those tones that you should be ready to play when your number is called.”

Injuries to freshman shortstop Sebastian Peralta (eye, out at least until late in the season) and senior infielder Rocco Vincent (knee and ankle, could return next week) already provided some chances for the backups for Sumner (now 4-7), but the door fully opened when the offense touched up the Chiefs for a seven-run lead in the first three innings, Saturday.

Senior leadoff hitter Gabe Mangual set the table with a single, a hit by pitch and walk and Gerald Lopez cleaned up afterward. The junior was a force for the Stingrays, driving the ball the opposite way for a pair of doubles that scored three.

“I think I’m really good at going oppo, just trying to put the bat on the ball,” Lopez said. “I’m just going to keep doing it.”

Classmate Manny Ramos drove a towering two-run homer over the left field fence in the first inning while a two-out error and passed ball gifted the visitors a pair of third-inning runs. That also presented Duran with the chance to reward his understudies.

“All 20 guys got into the game in one facet or another – on the field, at the plate or on the mound,” Duran said. “It was a bullpen day and it can be a little dicey when you put freshmen and sophomores out there, but we want to keep developing these guys and put them in positions to be successful.”

Senior Dereck Burgos delivered a two-run round-tripper in the sixth, the first time Sumner has had a multi-homer game, while sophomore Landon Wilder and freshman Luke Parsons worked effectively on the hill in the victory. Senior reliever Jose Cabrelas earned the win, working 1 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout ball.

Chamberlain (2-8) had opportunities of its own, putting more runners on base in the game than the Stingrays, but couldn’t bust through until there were two outs in the seventh. Junior Michael Wormack kept his strong season going with an RBI single, while classmate Eyxsen Herrera followed with his second two-bagger of the day, plating a pair and scoring later on Joran Hyde’s base hit.

“It gets crazy,” said Chiefs head coach Martin Ortega. “We always start with errors and then we play sound baseball. Even some of my better players were pressing. We left nine on base (including bases-loaded chances in the second and third frames) and you can’t expect to win games that way.

“But in the end, we got patient, and if this was a four-inning game – the last four innings – we win. All in all, Eyxsen hit well and Joran pitched well (in 4.1 innings of relief), and that’s pretty much the positives.”

Chamberlain continues its five-game home stand against Gaither on Monday, while Sumner travels to take on Robinson on Tuesday night.

⚾⚾⚾⚾

Sumner 9
Chamberlain 4

S 322|002|0 – |9|0|0
C 000|000|4 – |4|0|0
W – Cabrales; L – Herrera
2B – Lopez 2 (S); Herrera 2 (C); HR – Ramos, Burgos (S). Records – S (4-7); C (2-8).

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