Krop’s Offensive Prowess Electrifies Hallandale

Backed by an explosive offensive showing led by a six-base night by Emilio Escandon and solid collective mound work by Sam Rier and Lenny Bates, the Dr. Krop Lightning surged past the Hallandale Chargers in an cross-county battle of the bolts on Tuesday night at Johnson Park. The Lightning offense lit up the scoreboard, reaching double digits in hits and runs en route to a 11-6 victory over the Chargers.

“The offense today was satisfactory,” Krop Manager Scott Olsen said. “We got 15 hits. If we can hit the ball like that, we’re going to be alright.”

The Lightning’s final three runs came with two outs the seventh inning, and they proved valuable after te Chargers mounted a late come back bid. Manuel Talavera connected for a single and his third hit of the game, and he was brought around by an Elliott Karr double. Escandon then plated Karr with a drive that missed leaving the park by five feet and wound up as a double off the deep center field fence.

Krop put men in scoring position in each of the seven innings, and scored at least two runs in five of them. They got things started with a bang in the second inning. After Jordan Landman reached first via a lead-off single and got to third on a heads up base running play during a 5-3 ground-out, Escandon slammed a monstrous no-doubt home run well over the right-center field fence.

Hitting in the bottom third of the lineup, Escandon wasn’t approaching either of his at bats with the intention of hitting the ball deep. As he put it, they just sort of wound up that way.

“I was just trying to do my job out there; trying to get runs in,” Escandon said. “As almost every Major Leaguer would say, they didn’t try to hit a home run they just tried to hit the ball hard somewhere. That’s what I tried to do and they just wound up as a home run and a long double.”

Although it was a more than welcome sight, Escandon’s showing of power came as a bit of a surprise to his Manager.

“That was a shock to me,” Olsen said. “We got here today and saw the field and thought a lefty had a good shot at getting one out of here. I wouldn’t have picked him as my guess but he stepped up and delivered when he had to. Those were two big hits for us.”

Escandon’s homer set the tone for the rest of the Lightning’s impressive assault, which they continued in the very next inning. It started with a lead-off double by Jason Girardi and a base hit by Rier, who were both knocked in on a two-RBI single by Diego Rodriguez. Manuel Talavera followed with a single and a great sac bunt by Jordan Landman put two men in scoring position. After Phillip DiMartino loaded the bases with a short fly ball that fell in between third and shortstop, Michael Felder delivered two runs with a two-bagger of his own. The inning that saw a little bit of everything from the Lightning offense ended with four runs on six hits.

Krop tacked on another pair in the fifth. Following Talavera’s second hit in as many at bats, he put himself in scoring position by stealing second, and was plated by a Landman RBI single. Landman also scored in the inning, as the shortstop wound up going 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs scored, and a perfect sac bunt.

On the mound for the Lightning, starter Sam Rier scattered just three hits over six innings. Almost exclusively using off-speed pitches mixed in with a low-70’s fastball, the finesse thrower struck out eight.

“Sammy isn’t going to blow anyone away,” Olsen said. “He relies on location a lot but if he’s down in the strike zone, he can be effective.”

The Lightning defense may have committed four errors, but they picked Rier up with some key plays. A pop up in the third inning behind first base was caught on a great diving play onto the outfield grass by DiMartino. The freshman then popped to his feet and made an amazingly accurate throw, cutting down a man attempting to tag up at the plate. With a man in scoring position in the fifth, Landman made a spectacular play on a slow dribbling grounder, charging onto the infield grass, fielding it, and making a great off-balance throw to first for the inning-ending out.

Despite entering the bottom of the seventh inning down by nine runs, the Chargers continued to play their game. Taking what the Lightning gave them, they were able to make a blowout into a competitive game. The Chargers ran the bases well in the final frame, stealing two bases and taking another on a errant throw. The maroon and gold also showed the ability to play small ball, scoring via a sac-fly thanks to some good situational hitting by Josh Martinez.

Lenny Bates entered in the sixth inning and got in and out of that frame with under 15 pitches thrown. Although the seventh inning was prolonged by errors, Bates remained collected and continued pounding the zone. Using high-70’s heat and a good biting curveball, 21 of Bates’ 30 total offerings went for strikes.

“Lenny is very good with his control,” Olsen said. “The defense let him down a bit in the last inning but he battled through it.”

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