Smithfield and Logan split Saturday double-header

<strong>SMITHFIELD—</strong> Both riding impressive winning streaks, the Smithfield Blue Sox and Logan Royals met in a double-header Saturday evening. Neither team was able to gain any ground on the other, as they split the series, 1-1.

The first game of the double header started off on a high note for the Royals as they scored five runs in the top of the second inning.

Dallen Godfrey started the scoring as he bounced a double off the centerfield wall, driving in a pair of runs. Trace Hansen added an RBI single, and Kye Raymond had a 2-run single before the Blue Sox were able to get out of the inning.

Frustration continued to show in game one for Smithfield as its pitching and overall performance struggled. Seven Blue Sox pitches hit Logan batters. Russ Madsen, the Royals shortstop, was on the wrong end of three of those incidences.

“We seem to have problems as we go along. We’ll go two, three, four innings and then all of a sudden we can’t find the strike zone,” Smithfield head coach Vic Bingham said.

The Royals had another huge inning the fifth as they tallied five more runs to increase their lead to 10-0.

“We’ll give up an inning with four or five runs and we’ve done that several times this year,” Bingham said. “We did it again tonight. They hit the crap out of the ball.”

“We’ve been hitting the ball really, really well. We’ve hit the ball well the whole time and it’s all up and down the lineup, “ Logan coach Ron Stott said. “We get people on and we get key hits. We’ve been doing a good job, so I’m really happy with the hitting.”

Smithfield finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth when Chris Labrum singled with the bases loaded.  Following Labrum’s hit, Brennen Reese stepped up to the plate and hit a 3-run triple.

Both teams added more runs in the sixth but unfortunately for the Blue Sox, their comeback came up short despite a three-run homer by Jordan Hansen in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Royals took game one, 13-8.

The second game was a much tighter affair than the first thanks to better defense by both teams as well as less errors.

Raymond got things going for the Royal in the top of the first inning, as he launched a 2-run shot over the centerfield.

Hansen answered right back for the Blue Sox with an RBI single in the bottom of the first frame making it 2-1 for Logan. 

Shae Neal hit a 2-run double up the middle for Smithfield during the bottom of the second inning in which the Blue Sox scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead.

Logan responded in the top of the third inning when Brandon Petersen had a 2-run double of his own and Jaren Tyler laid down a sacrifice hit to send Kevin Hall home.

Logan led 5-4 until the bottom of the sixth inning.

Brandt Reese stepped up to the plate with two outs and Kash Christensen on third. Reese ripped a single that scored the game-tying run.

In the seventh, Logan’s Greg Vernier was thrown out at home plate as he tried to score from first on a Trace Hansen single. That was as close as the Royals would get as Hansen was thrown out at second because of a mental lapse.

Jordan Hansen led off the seventh for the Blue Sox by getting walked.

Shawn Olsen thought he had won the game a few minutes later with a blast up the left field line, but it was called foul. Olsen did single on the next pitch, which moved Hansen to third with just one out.

Colby Read hit a deep shot to left field that the Royals were unable to track down defensively. Hansen crossed the plate to give Smithfield the 6-5 win.

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