Phillips, Litton shine on mound
FROSTBURG — After suffering a sour-tasting loss two days earlier, Kaleb Logan crushed the first offering from the Reds starting pitcher in the bottom of the fourth inning to push Frostburg past Westernport to a sweet 2-1 victory in an early June matchup at Frostburg Community Park.
The game was rescheduled from its original May 23, a day that a whole lotta green appeared on area radar.
Josiah Spradlin led off the fourth with a sharp single to the left of second base and into center field. Logan followed with his swat that landed in center field and rolled past the fielders. Spradin scored easily, while Logan slid home with the eventual winning run.
Photo by Allegany Playground
Kaleb Logan, seen here in a file photo earlier this season, smashed a game-winning inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to lift Frostburg to its fourth win of the season.
The win was the Boogeymen’s fourth of the season, moving Frostburg’s record to 4-4-1 overall.
Frostburg had only four hits in the game, including two by Bex Litton.
On the mound, Boogeymen hurlers allowed only one run on four hits while striking out 15 batters — with only one free pass.
Austen Phillips tossed two scoreless innings to open the game and he resumed his normal duties behind home plate in the third with the score knotted at zero. Spradlin came on in relief and promptly pegged the first batter in the head. That was Westernport’s third baserunner of the game, but the most damaging. The player stayed in the game and stole second base, then moved to third and safely home on two Frostburg errors.
The run broke the scoreless tie and put Westernport up 1-0. Spradlin settled down and ended the threat by striking out the last two batters in the inning. Spradlin started the top of the fourth on the mound and struck out the first two batters before walking a batter. That ended his night on the mound, as the Boogeymen — in the second game of three games in five days — limited their pitchers’ pitch counts.
Litton relieved Spradlin and struck out the batter looking to end the fourth.
At the plate, Spradlin and Logan did their damage to lift Frostburg to a 2-1 lead. In the top of the sixth, Litton ran into a bit of trouble when Westernport’s leadoff hitter reached first on a single, then the next hitter reached on an error. But Litton struck out the next three batters, stranding the potential tying and go-ahead runners on base.
Phillips went two innings, striking out five and giving up just two hits. Spradlin tossed 1 2/3 innings, allowing the Reds’ only run and striking out four, walking one and hitting another. Litton went 2 1/3 and struck out six, allowing two hits in the process.
It has been 16 days since the Frostburg Boogeymen last posted a win. Heading into Saturday night’s under-the-lights make-up special against Westernport, the Boogeymen have played only once since May 19. Frostburg is scheduled to host Ellerslie on Monday at 6 p.m. and a road game on June 9 at 6 p.m. in Friendsville. It is not yet known if two other games, one against the PVAA Angels and another against CG Majors – Black, will be rescheduled before the postseason tournament begins in mid-June.
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