La Plata tops Western Charles in CHASM clash

When cross county rivals Western Charles and La Plata met last Saturday afternoon in an early season Charles–St. Mary’s Baseball League contest at Lackey High School, the host Twins prevailed on a day when their starting pitcher was nearly perfect.

La Plata staked starting pitcher Gabe Multumyr to an early 2-0 lead by scoring one run in each of the first two innings then the Twins broke the game open by scoring four times in the third. Multumyr took a perfect game into the fifth, yielded a walk and a hit then escaped damage when his infielders turned an inning-ending double play.

“Gabe had a perfect game up to that point,” La Plata coach Tony Sweeney said. “They finally got a couple of runners on in the fifth, first with the error then a walk then a hit. But that was the only hit that he gave up.”

La Plata had gained a tepid 2-0 advantage over the first two innings against Western Charles starting pitcher Dylan Brown then the Twins finally broke the game open in the home half of the third. Colton Sweeney drew a leadoff walk, stole second then scored on a single by Brett Michael to make it 3-0.

Then with one out John Griffith singled and went to third on a single by Ryan Prehoda. Danny Gross followed with a run-scoring single then Jacob Sweeney plated another run on a groundout to third. The Twins added an unearned run in the home half of the fourth which staked Multumyr to a comfortable 7-0 lead heading to the fifth.

Multumyr was perfect through four frames, but the Natty Bohs first base runner in the fifth came courtesy of a throwing error and later in the frame Western Charles earned a walk and its first hit, the only one the starter would allow. In the top of the sixth against Gross, Cole Harkness walked and later scored on a one-out single by Tyler Quade to end the Twins’ shutout bid.

“Their starter was able to keep us off balance and then their bats came alive in the third,” said Western Charles manager Tony Stefko, who recently completed his first season as the baseball coach at St. Mary’s Ryken High School. “We didn’t have a full complement of players today, but it’s still early in the season.”