For the first four-plus innings of Friday’s contest with host Towson, Hereford starting pitcher Jack Kinsey performed his version of Harry Houdini, working out of trouble time and again just like the famed magician escaped one trunk after another.
Kinsey’s luck, however, ran out in the fifth as a hit batsman, a walk, and a costly error on what could have been an inning-ending double play let the Generals tie the game. They ended up scoring five runs in the innings, en route to a 5-3 victory.
“That’s a great pitcher we’re facing for Hereford,” said Towson coach Shawn Tormey, whose squad improved to 8-1 on the season. “Kinsey is legit, and that was a gem he threw, but we built up his pitch count and just chip away, chip away, chip away, and then you get fortunate and find yourself in a positive end.”
In that pivotal fifth inning, Hereford brought in relief pitcher Gavin Jacker, but Mitchell Toung worked a bases-loaded walk to bring home a run and give the Generals a 2-1 advantage. Nate Berkowitz drove in two on a scorching double to left center field. Two batters later, Dickens plated a run on an infield single deep in the hole at shortstop for the four-run lead.
“I was just thinking, [look] fastball and swing at anything, because we were taking first strikes for [Kinsey] to kind of get his pitch count up,” Berkowitz said. “This guy [Jacker], my coach said anything goes. I just saw it and went with it. I just hit it as hard as I could.”
The Bulls (8-5) came right back with two runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run infield single by Willie DeSantis with the bases loaded. Towson second baseman Connor Dickens ranged to his right to knock it down, but was unable to corral the ball as it skirted near the outfield.
Hereford would get no closer, however, as Towson reliever Quint Fryer, a side-armed hurler, stranded two baserunners in the top of the seventh with a pair of strikeouts.
“Grady [Kimball] gave us a great start and got us into the sixth, and Quint, whose been away from baseball for a while, we’re so glad he’s been back because he has been our dude out of bullpen,” Tormey said.
Both squads squandered numerous scoring opportunities for much of the game, starting in the first inning. Hereford loaded the bases with two outs, but a groundout back to the pitcher ended the early threat. Towson’s Michael Parry and Asher Grostsky singled and doubled, respectively, to start the bottom of the first but a strikeout, a baserunning error, and another strikeout kept the game scoreless.
The Bulls put the first two batters on in the top of the second inning on a bad hop single and ground rule double by DeSantis before Shaun Verderaime scored on an RBI groundout by Ryan Larkin. Kimball limited the damage by working a strikeout looking of Daniel Metz and a groundout to first by Liam Kopajtic. Hereford stranded 10 base runners for the game.
“We left way too many guys [on base],” Hereford coach Brad Duvall said. “We hit the ball hard today; we hit the ball at people a lot. The right fielder made four plays he didn’t have to move on that were absolute missiles, but we leave too many guys on base. [We have] a routine double play in the inning that they scored five runs. If we turn that, we’re out of it. We didn’t play well enough to win.”
