Explosive third inning pulls Taconic Hills baseball past Maple Hill

CARYVILLE — An explosive eight-run third inning highlighted by a pair of RBI(2) doubles propelled the Taconic Hills High School Titans to a 9-3 victory over the Maple Hill Wildcats Monday, splitting the season series between the two Patroon Conference programs.

After a scoreless first inning, Taconic jumped out to a decisive one-nothing lead in the bottom of the second inning, but Noah Roberts wasn’t going to let his team fold that easily. The three-sport athlete (soccer, indoor track, and baseball) scored teammate Nick Butler off an RBI single in the top of the third inning, tying the game at one apiece.

Unfortunately for Maple Hill, the relief of tying the game and treading water was quickly washed away just minutes later when the Taconic bats put up an 8 spot in the third inning box score. The inning would alter the game and avenge a 5-3 Taconic loss just eleven days earlier at Conanics field.

“We started off strong [last time] and we ended up losing it in the end of the game,” said junior Baillie Dunn. “It feels good to take this win.”

Dunn and sophomore teammate Donovan Mier delivered a pair of back-to-back RBI(2) doubles in the third. The total four runs made it a 6-1 contest after Brian Teator scored to put Taconic back on top 2-1 earlier in the inning.

One Taconic run later, and at 63 pitches Maple Hill senior ace Kris Kretzschmar exited the game and friend Noah Roberts took over on the mound, but not before the Titans could poor on 2 more runs, making it a 9-1 ballgame.

With one out down in the top of the sixth, Maple Hill sophomore utility player Tyler Hanrahan doubled to left field, starting a Wildcats’ attack the would yield two runs and cut the contest to just six 9-3. But that’s all the juice Maple Hill had, failing to convert in the top half of the seventh and closing out the contest at its 9-3 final score.

“We had ten hits today so we’re actually hitting the ball okay,” Maple Hill coach Rico Frese said postgame. But the former Section II baseball commissioner admits his squad has work to do. “We can’t give teams extra outs and we’ve got to find a way to be a little bit more competitive and play with a higher energy level. We’re a little behind where we need to be defensively.”

Maple Hill falls to 3-5 in the Patroon Conference and 5-6 overall. The Wildcats will look to climb back to the500 mark, on Wednesday when they host Cairo-Durham at 4:15 p.m.

-Dylan Rossiter – @ByDylanRossiter – [email protected]