Michael Pineda
MARLOW — If chicks dig the long ball then Marlow had some certified prom date material in its lineup Tuesday afternoon.
Facing off against rival Comanche, the Outlaws made a living off the big inning, including an eight-run second inning that included three home runs in a 17-2 win. Ethan Elroy was responsible for two of the homers and Holden Davis hit a grandslam for Marlow, which improved to 3-1 on the season.
Davis finished the game 3-for-4 with six RBI and Elroy was 3-for-4 with seven RBI. Jordan Maxwell went the distance for Marlow to pick up the win.
“We swung it better today,” Marlow coach Brook Holding said. “The guys were staying back on it.
“Jordan did a good job and kept his pitch count down. We are keeping the pitch count at 60 and he only had 48 going into the last inning. When they put the ball in play, we did a good job defensively.”
Maxwell held the Indians to two hits on the day, the first in the first inning from Kale Reed. It was not until the second inning when any runs were put on the board and they came in a hurry.
Elroy led off the second with a bomb over the left field wall off Comanche starter Garrison McCauley. The sophomore retired two of the next three batters he faced but ran into trouble when he walked the No. 8 and No. 9 hole to load the bases. Davis made him pay when he got hold of a hanging curveball and deposited it over the left-center wall to give Marlow a 5-0 lead.
“They were hitting the fastball, they hit it over the left field and we had to go with something offspeed,” Comanche coach Chris Dobbins said. “This is how you learn.”
Dobbins stuck with McCauley and Marlow continued to roll as Wakely Bergner singled and Cody Brown drew a walk to bring Elroy to the plate. Elroy came up big once again with a three-run shot to make the score 8-0. Dobbins turned to Eric Brownlee who ended the inning with a strikeout. It was the first time that Brownlee has thrown off the mound this season.
Marlow got to Brownlee in the third inning with five runs on three hits. Bergner had a two-run single and Brown had a run scoring double to lead the charge.
Trailing 13-0, Comanche was able to make some noise in the top of the fourth and put a couple of runs on the board. McCauley drew a walk and Hunter Mildren was hit by a pitch to bring Tyler Olheiser to the plate. The senior hit a ball to deep center to score two runs but was caught leaning off second on an overthrow to home plate.
Maxwell caught the ball and threw to Elroy, who was following the play to get the out.
“That was a big play,” Holding said. “You will take outs like that. It was a heads up play by four kids. It’s just good for them to see what we work on in practice works in a game.”
Marlow put the finishing touches on the win with four runs off of Comanche reliever Anthony Robbins. Davis had the key hit in the inning with a two-run double.
With a lead of 17-2, Maxwell finished the game by striking out three batters in the top of the fifth to give Marlow the win via run-rule. Maxwell gave up two hits and struck out seven. He walked two and hit one batter.
McCauley took the loss in 1 2/3 innings of work, giving up eight runs. He gave up five hits while striking out two and walking three.
— Michael Pineda is the sports editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 143, or via e-mail at m.pineda@duncanbanner.com.
