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Titans’ Emmett Doyle strikes out nine in 14-1 Mother’s Day mauling of the Toronto Mets


14U Titans pitcher Emmett Doyle saved his best effort of the CPBL season for Mother's Day.

The right-handed hurler struck out nine Toronto Mets on Sunday afternoon at St. Andrew's College and his offence plated six runs in both the third inning and the fourth inning to back a 14-1 complete game victory.

Doyle's 80-pitch gem was not without its hiccups and the starter acknowledged his uneven opening inning.

“I felt a bit rough at the start, but once we got runs and took the lead, I was able to settle in.”

Doyle was grateful that his team's high-octane offence showed up again on Sunday, but he also gave credit to his catcher Dominic Williams for his successful start.

“After the six-run third inning, it was just Dom and me out there. Dom called a great game and made it easy. The whole team was hitting which was nice, too.”

14U Head Coach John Bethune echoed his starter's assessment of the Titans' potent offence: “Our hitting is there this year. We're averaging 7-8 runs a game so it was good to see the lineup so productive today from top to bottom.”

Coach Bethune was quick to credit Doyle's effort on the mound and a key defensive play made by his infield.

“Doyle shoved out there this afternoon, but our defense was solid behind him, especially our 4-6-3 double play at the top of the third inning at a point when we were holding on to a 2-1 lead.”

The third inning double play turned out to be the turning point of the game because the Titans plated six runs at the bottom of the frame to take a commanding 8-1 lead into the fourth.

The Mother's Day contest between the CPBL rivals did not want for atmosphere. It featured the skirl of the bagpipes as SAC's award-winning Pipes and Drums went through their paces on an adjacent field and the swirl of dust devils created by brisk northeast winds which wreaked havoc for all fielders.

Amid the skirl and swirl, the visiting Mets struck first.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jacob Lonjack deposited a leadoff single into shallow centerfield and scored on a two-out wild pitch by Doyle.

The Titans responded at the bottom of the frame when Tyson Kushnir legged out a leadoff infield single and Tysen White drew a walk. It seemed the Titans would squander the ‘two-on-nobody-out' scenario after a strikeout and infield pop-up, but Sam Hess took a pitch in the numbers to load the bases and Aiden Stewart cashed Kushnir with an RBI single to tie the game 1-1. White scored on a wild pitch by Mets' starter Elijah Lintan-Peralta to put the Titans out front 2-1.

The Titans' big double play at the top of the third to erase a leadoff base runner and a fifth strikeout by the dominant Doyle put the team's potent bats back in the box.

Coach Bethune's offence surged at the bottom of the third amid the throbbing of the SAC drum corps.

Nathan O'Neill's quality at-bat resulted in a walk to lead off the fateful third and hard-hitting Caiden Moncada followed with a base hit into shallow right field.  Moncada hit .722 in four CPBL games leading into Sunday's game.

O'Neill stole third and Moncada stole second on successive plays.

O'Neill plated the Titans' third run on a Lintan-Peralta wild pitch and Rylan Copeland lashed an RBI single into the right-centre gap to score Moncada, putting the Titans up 4-1.

Kushnir legged out another infield single to keep the big inning alive, White drew a two-out walk, and James Ratcliffe hit a ball off the end of his bat that dropped in behind the pitcher to load the bases.

Dominic Williams drilled a two-run double down the third baseline to score Kushnir and White.  The Titan catcher's two RBIs gave his battery mate more breathing room, expanded the lead to 6-1, and chased Mets' starter Lintan-Peralta. Ratcliffe scored on a wild pitch and Williams scored on a bases-loaded walk to take an 8-1 lead into the fourth inning. 

Doyle settled in at the top of the fourth. The resident of Minesing induced a lead off FO7 into the swirling winds that four of his teammates surrounded and he struck out two more Mets to preserve a seven-run lead over Toronto.

The Titans put the game away at the bottom of the fourth by plating six more runs—four of which scored on bases-loaded walks. Nathan O'Neill led off the fourth with a leadoff single, stole second, and advanced to third when Caiden Moncada lashed a ball through the right side of the infield.  Tyson Kushnir's groundout plated the speedy O'Neill to make it 9-1 and James Ratcliffe's squeeze bunt scored Moncada from third to up the lead to 10-1.

With a 14-1 lead on the scoreboard, Doyle finished what he started when he struck out the final Mets batter of the game as an exclamation point to his complete game victory over Toronto.

The Titans went on to sweep the Mother's Day doubleheader with a 6-5 win in Game 2 at SAC.

First baseman Tyson Kushnir went 5 for 6 (.833) during the doubleheader on Sunday.

Ryan Copeland picked up a 5-out, 3-strikeout save in Game 2.

The Titans, according to Coach Bethune, “hit .360 as a team on Sunday and have a .333 team average after 6 CPBL games, averaging eight runs a game.” 

By Jim Stewart

Post date: 2023-05-18 20:42:24
Post date GMT: 2023-05-19 00:42:24
Post modified date: 2023-05-18 20:42:29
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