by Ryan Mosher
On Monday the Berlin baseball team could not seem to get its offense going against a tough Waterford team that seemed to have no problems with their offense. In the top of the first inning Waterford had their first five batters all reach base. Luckily for Berlin, their defense only allowed one run to score. After an error allowed the lead off hitter to get on, Berlin catcher Matt Berish gunned him out attempting to steal second base. Two walks, a fielder’s choice and a single put the Fordians on the scoreboard at 1-0. In the bottom half of the first, Aaron Gunlach led off with a walk and then stole second base. After Gunlach advanced to third base on a wild pitch, Fred Morine scored him on a ground ball that the shortstop then threw away.
Both teams were quiet in the second inning, but in the third Waterford’s offense exploded. The Fordians sent fourteen hitters to the plate in the inning, collecting three doubles and a triple and drawing four walks and a hit batsman. The twelve base runners scored nine runs, giving them the 10-1 lead. The Mountaineers attempted to come back in the bottom half of the inning as Matt Morse walked and came around to score and Eric Remington collected Berlin’s only hit of the day.
Waterford did not stop there as they added five runs in the 4th inning and four runs in the 5th inning. With a leadoff home run in the sixth Waterford took a 20-2 lead. At that point the game ended on a scary note as the Fordians Kyle Brisson fouled a pitch back that appeared to go under the face mask and hit Berlin’s catcher, Matt Berish, in the throat. The game was called at that point, and Berish was taken away by ambulance as a precaution. Luckily Berish is okay and was back behind the plate the next day.
Senior Eric Remington took the loss as he pitched three innings, allowing 5 hits, walking 6 and giving up 10 runs. Remington did collect the only hit of the game for Berlin, a third inning single.