Dover baseball sweeps rival New Phila after an 11-1, five-inning mercy win
NEW PHILADELPHIA -- Dover baseball made it a clean sweep against New Philadelphia in 2022.
Senior Ayden Hall tossed a two-hitter with six strikeouts and the Crimson Tornadoes broke open a close game with a seven-run fourth inning for an 11-1 five-inning mercy win over the Quakers in an East Central Ohio League contest between the two rivals at Tuscora Park Friday night.
Dover improved to 9-2 overall and 4-0 in ECOL, while New Philadelphia fell to 5-4, 2-2.
Earlier this month, Dover recorded a 3-1 decision over New Philadelphia under chilly conditions at Dover City Park as the Crimson Tornadoes dedicated their artificial turf infield.
Dover head coach Jeff Fondriest said the Crimson and Gray put it all together against their rivals.
"I thought the kids played really well today," said Fondriest. "Ayden was dealing and the finally the bats came alive today and that was good for us to see. It was definitely a good win."
Hall, Mason Stoldt and Connor McGarry each had two hits of Dover's 10 hits.
Dover drew first blood against (New Philadelphia's head coach) Tyler Weisel's bunch in the top of the first inning when Stoldt smacked a two-hour solo home run off the left centerfield light pole against starter Brenton Billman to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Quakers went down 1-2-3 against Hall (4-0) in the bottom of the first.
Dover loaded the bases in the top of the second, but Billman got out of the jam with a fly ball to centerfield.
New Philadelphia evened the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Maddox Brown belted an RBI double that plated Charlie Gibbs who walked.
However, Dover regained a 2-1 lead in the top of the third when Hall walked, went to second on a passed ball and moved to third on a flyball out before Nolan Kellicker recorded an RBI groundout.
The Crimson Tornadoes broke the game open in the top of the fourth as the visitors scored seven times.
After a dropped popup, McGarry ripped an RBI double that scored Brandon Shepler, who walked to start the inning and went to second on a sacrifice by Matt Dummermuth to make it 3-1.
James Leggett drove in McGarry with an RBI single and Ethan Kellicker ripped an RBI double to make it 5-1 Dover.
Nolan Kellicker had an RBI single to drive in his brother for the sixth run and a seventh run came home on a passed ball and two more scored on an error for a 9-1 advantage.
Hall struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth and Dover went back to work on offense in the top of the fifth.
Hall helped his cause with a bloop RBI single and Stoldt added another RBI blooper as the Crimson Tornadoes lead swelled to 11-1.
The Quakers needed to score to extend the game past the fifth inning as the visitors led by 10 runs.
Brown reached first on an error and Nathan Schumacher followed with a single to put two runners on with nobody out, but Hall recorded his sixth strikeout, induced a flyout and got a groundout to end the game.
"That's what we expect from Ayden," said Fondriest. "We expect him to compete every time he comes out. To beat Phila twice his senior year I'm sure he will remember that for a long time."
In JV play at Dover City Park, Dover beat New Phila 9-1 as Blayke Ring picked up the pitching win and helped his cause with two singles and four RBIs. Jonah Mark added a single double, RBI and a run scored.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Dover baseball sweeps rival New Phila after an 11-1, five-inning mercy win
