VINELAND, NJ - Northampton Head Baseball Coach
Adrian Yaguez is many things, one thing he did not want to be was a prophet. However, after his team's victory over Delaware County on April 16th, Yaguez stated that he was concerned about the Spartans defense and that, "... errors will come back to get us in a close game." Fast forward to Saturday's top-10 showdown between #8 Northampton and #3 Cumberland and Yaguez could not have been more right.
In game one of the much anticipated showdown, the Dukes took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first off NCC starter
Mike Anthony (5.2 innings pitched, 4 runs, 1 earned, 4 BB, 6 K's) but
Tyler Ruoss tied the game with a solo homerun in the top of the 5th.
Cumberland then scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th off an infield error that would have ended the inning, giving them a 4-1 lead, and the eventual victory.
Nick Todero was 1 for 2 and
Ben Hauser was 1 for 3, as the Spartans only managed 3 hits.
GAME ONE| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Northampton (17-5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Cumberland (32-6) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
Winning Pitcher: Cody Stashack (7-1)
Losing Pitcher:
Mike Anthony (3-2)
In game two, the Spartan defense committed 5 errors, and the Dukes exploded for 15 hits en route to a 15-2 victory. Cumberland jumped out to a 7-0 lead, before
Tyler Zimmerman doubled to center and later scored on a sacrifice fly from
Nick Todero, making the score 7-1.
Zach Werner (2-1) took the loss, going 4.1 innings, allowing 8 runs, 1 earned, striking out 4 and walking 3.
"It was a very disappointing day," remarked Head Coach
Adrian Yaguez, "I wish we could have played better, but the bottom line is that we committed 7 errors to their 1 and we were outhit 22 to 9 ... you are not going to win alot of games with those type of stats, especially against the #3 team in the country."
GAME TWO| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Northampton (17-6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| Cumberland (33-6) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | X | 15 | 15 | 0 |
Northampton, now 17-6 overall and 8-0 in conference play, travels to Schnecksville, PA on April 22nd to face Lehigh Carbon in a single 9 inning game.
