Baseball: Atholton Drops County Foe Hammond, 13-1

It was the last regular-season game for the seniors at Atholton High School, and two of them put on a show as the Raiders dumped county rival Hammond, 13-1, in five innings Monday.

Paul Beers threw a four-hit complete game for the Raiders and had a no-hitter going with two outs in the top of the fifth. The Golden Bears then put together four straight hits for their lone run.

Kory Britton did damage for Atholton with his bat with three hits in the contest, including a grand slam and a double that cleared the bases. He had seven RBIs on the game.

"We made a mistake early on that cost us in the first inning and kind of shifted the momentum early. I thought we played well after that first inning," said Hammond coach Matt Sillers.

The Atholton Raiders scored 12 of their runs after two outs in the first and fourth innings.

Britton started the bottom of the first with a single up the middle. After an out, Beers had a single to right to put runners on first and second. After a fly out for the second out, Paul Burmester was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Jake Yasenka followed with a bouncer that Hammond pitcher Kyle Chevraunt had problems fielding. Chevraunt threw the ball down the right field line, allowing all three runners to score.

Next up was Jordan Thompson, who lined a base hit down the left field line, driving in Yasenka. Brady Acker and Grant Castner each singled to load the bases again.

Up to the plate for the second time in the inning was Britton. Last year’s Howard County player of the year, he turned on a pitch and slugged a home run to right to clear the bases. It was his fourth round-tripper of the season.

"That’s a really good team. Hats off to them," said Sillers.

There were two outs in the bottom of the fourth, and one run had scored when the bases were once again loaded. Britton strolled to the plate and drove a ball to deep center that the center fielder could not catch. The hit cleared the bases, and Britton stopped at second.

"Kory got a little bit of a pulled hamstring. He pulled up going to second," said Raiders coach Kevin Kelly. "He runs pretty well; he probably would have had a least a triple out of that. I think it’s better to get him out of the game and get a week's rest. Hopefully we will get a bye in the playoffs, and he will be ready to go on Monday."

In the meantime, Beers had the game under control, as the first four innings saw only three Hammond batters step up to the plate in each frame. Beers had four strikeouts and walked only one in the contest, improving to 5-0 on the season.

Connecting on singles to get the visitors' lone run was Chevraunt, Kyle Painter, Joshua Whaley and Ryan Record.

"We have been playing a lot better later on in the season," Sillers said. "We started a little slow. Other than today, we have been playing pretty tough and hanging in there with all the teams we have played and beaten. I am happy with how we progressed up to this point."

The Raiders ended the regular season at 17-2. The Golden Bears are 7-10.

Next for both teams is the playoffs. Kelly is hoping the hitting continues.

"I hope we can do it for five more games," Kelly said. "It is the right time of the year to be hitting."