By Staff

            BENNINGTON – The 2023 Canton/Galva baseball team took to the road on Tuesday to open season and recorded dominating back-to-back wins in a 14-6, 21-4, doubleheader sweep of Bennington.

            “Straight from the get go the guys went into today focused and ready to play,” noted Eagle head coach Seth Moddelmog. “And that really showed on the field. Outside of a lull in the first game around the fourth inning, we played very sharp.”

            In game one, Canton/Galva too an early 6-0 lead by scoring twice in each of the first two innings. They then went up 8-2 at the end of four before allowing Bennington to grab four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Eagles then responded by putting three runs across in each of their final two at bats to gain the final 14-6 win.

            Braison Alcala led the Eagle bats with three hits and four runs batted in, while Garrett Maltbie, Dylan Cherry, Gavin Robertson and John Burrill each had a pair of hits in the game. Both Alcala and Ross Burrill pounded out doubles as the team total 13 hits while committing just one error.

            Ross Burrill got the win on the mound, pitching the first three innings and allowing no hits while striking out seven and walking four. Gavin Robertson and John Burrill worked the final four innings in relief.

            Game two turned into a quick 21-4, four inning rout for the Eagles as they put two runs across in the first, three in the second, five in the third and then 11 in the fourth to get the dominating victory.

            Canton/Galva got the big win despite just 13 hits and only five earned runs thanks to Bennington committing six errors in the game, giving them a total of 13 errors in the doubleheader while the Eagles committed just two.
            Dylan Cherry and Braison Alcala led the Eagles on offense with three hits each while Maltbie, Ross Burrill, and freshman Camden Kruse each had a pair. Maltbie hit for a triple as well.

            Maltbie took the win on the mound, throwing three innings and giving up seven hits, three earned runs plus walking three and striking out three.

            Coach Moddelmog concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “We really hit the ball well and played very solid defense, only committing two errors the entire day. The coaching staff and I were very pleased with the team today as it felt good to get a couple of wins. Now it is time to get back to work as we got a long season ahead of us.”

            The Eagles will be back on the diamond Friday when they play host to Sedgwick.

CANTON/GALVA EAGLES at Bennington

GAME 1:

EAGLES > 3-3-0-2-0-3-3 = 14-13-1;  Bennington > 0-0-1-1-4-0-0 = 6-6 7.

EALGES BATTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Garrett Maltbie > 2-2-2-0-3; Dylan Cherry > 5-2-2-0-0; Ross Burrill > 4-3-1-1-0; Braison Alcala > 5-5 3-4-0; Gavin Robertson > 4-2-2-0-1; Ethan Unruh > 5-0-1-2-0; John Burrill > 5-0-2-2-0; Camden Kruse > 3-0-0-0-1; Noah Collins > 3-0-0-0-1.  Team Totals > 36-14-13-9-6.  2B (2) > R. Burrill, Alcala – 1. SB (4) > Robertson – 2; J. Burrill, Maltbie – 1.  LOB > 8.

Bennington Batting (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): 27-6-6-4-8. LOB > 9.

EAGLES PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Ross Burrill (W) > 3.0-60-0-1-0-4-7; Gavin Robertson > 1.1-50-4-5-5-3-2; John Burrill > 2.2-28-2-0-0-1-1. Team Totals: 7.0-138-6-6-5-8-10.

Bennington Pitching (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): 7.0-136-13-14-6-6-7.

GAME 2:

EAGLES > 2-3-5-11 = 21-13-1;  Bennington > 0-0-2-2 = 4-7-6.

EAGLES BATTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Garrett Maltbie > 4-5-2-1-1; Dylan Cherry > 5-3-3-5-0; Ross Burrill > 4-0-2-1-1; Braison Alcala > 3-1-3-2-1; Gavin Robertson > 3-0-0-1-2; Ethan Unruh > 5-2-1-3-0; John Burrill > 4-1-0-0-0; Camden Kruse > 3-3-2-0-1; Noah Collins > 1-4-0-0-3; Nike Orlanzzini > 0-2-0-0-0. Team Totals > 32-21-13-13-9.  3B(1) > Maltbie – 1. SB (4) > Collins – 2; Robertson, Maltbie – 1.  LOB > 9.

Bennington Batting (ab-r-h-rbi-bb): 19-4-7-3-4. LOB > 9.

EAGLES PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Garrett Maltbie (W) > 3.0-56-7-4-4-3-3; Blaison Alcala > 1.0-17-0-0-0-1-1. Team Totals > 4.0-73-7-4-4-4-4.

Bennington Pitching (ip-p-h-r-er-bb-so): 4.0-151-13-21-5-9-5.

(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)