Continuing his hot-streak at South County High School, Casey Mayes (MSU) was 2-3 from the plates with a double and walk scoring one run. Unfortunately, the Spartan would be the only Aces after nine frames to card hit in the 3-2 loss at the hands of the FCA Braves.
The Aces drop into the Ripken League cellar after the loss at 11.5 games behind Bethesda. The Aces have now lost seven of their last ten.
The Aces had a golden opportunity to make noise in the eighth – trailing one run – with two runners on base and no one down. Dom Toso (Bucknell) failed to execute a sacrifice bunt before Ryan Peltier (Ball State) flew out in shallow right field. Ending his on-base streak at 15 games, Max Romero (Vanderbilt) struck out to close the frame out in a pinch-hit situation.
The same opportunity came afoot in the ninth frame. This time it was Javon Fields (Towson) who executed the sacrifice bunt perfectly moving the tying and go-ahead runners into scoring position. TJ McKenzie (Vanderbilt) struck out before Steve Hill (Morehead State) greased a missile down the third base line into Charlie Ludwick’s glove at the hot corner.
Jared Lyons (GMU) was handed a tough loss after pitching five innings. Allowing only seven hits behind seven punchouts, all three of FCA’s runs came in the second frame of which two were earned.
Lyons is now tied with Bethesda’s Dalton Ponce for most strikeouts at 43. Lyons has notably pitched 3.2 less innings than the Big Train hurler.
Alexandria is back in action Monday in a 6:30 p.m. hosting of the T-Bolts at Frank Mann Field.