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Dragon bats erupt in win over Titusville

Ryan Rafalski had a double and an RBI in a 16-7 win at Titusville on Saturday.

TITUSVILLE – After a mini 2-game road losing streak, Warren broke out in a big way against Titusville on Saturday.

The Dragon bats were scorching, accounting for 17 hits in a 16-7 non-region win.

The offense came early, often and up and down the lineup, as every starter recorded at least one hit.

“We’re hitting the ball pretty well as a group,” said Warren coach Rick Eaton.

The Rockets actually took a brief lead in the bottom of the first, 2-1, after Mitch Grosch gave the Dragons (9-4) an early lead with a sacrifice fly in the top half of the inning.

It was short-lived, however, as the Warren lineup continued to cause damage off of Titusville starter Bryan Clark.

Derek Knapp had an RBI fielder’s choice in the second, followed by an RBI single from Matt Leonard and a 2-run single courtesy of Owen Balas gave Warren a 5-2 lead.

Three more runs crossed the plate in the third.

Grosch walked and Aidan Morrison had a base hit to set the table, which followed with RBI singles off the bats of Nate Betts and starting pitcher Colby Johnson and an RBI groundout from Leonard.

Johnson settled in after the first inning on the mound, allowing three runs on six hits in his four innings of work, striking out three.

Austyn Cummings’ RBI single highlighted the fourth inning, while the lead swelled to 12-3 in the fifth on another run-scoring single by Cummings and a sac fly from Adam Irwin.

Titusville scored four runs in the fifth, with the big blow coming in the form of a bases clearing triple off the bat of Cole Culver.

The Dragons scored once in the sixth on an Baldensperger RBI single and twice more in the seventh on back-to-back RBI doubles from Knapp and Ryan Rafalski to cap the scoring.

Knapp, meanwhile, was excellent in his 2 1/3 innings on the mound. In fact, he was perfect, striking out four without allowing a baserunner.

Cummings had three RBI and Balas three hits for the Dragons, who have a busy and important week ahead, beginning with a home Region 6 game against General McLane on Monday, which will also serve as senior recognition (ceremony will be between the varsity and JV games).

It’s one of four games this week for the Dragons, including playing at Pitt-Bradford’s Kessel Athletic Complex against the host Owls on Tuesday, and at UPMC Park, home of the Erie Seawolves (the Detroit Tigers Class AA affiliate) on Friday against McDowell.

“A couple of times this week we were right there, and things just didn’t go our way and we had a little trouble getting out of innings,” Eaton noted. “The tide will change.”

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WARREN (16)

Baldensperger cf 4-3-2-2, Balas llf-c 4-1-3-2, Grosch 3b-p 3-3-2-1, Cummings rf 5-0-2-3, Morrison c 2-0-1-0, Irwin 1b 1-0-1-1, Arnold cr 0-3-0-0, Betts ss 4-2-1-1-, Knapp 2b-3b 4-1-2-2, Johnson p 3-0-1-1, Rafalski 2b 2-0-1-1, Gustafson cr 0-2-0-0, Leonard 1b-lf 4-1-1-2, Passmore ph-lf 1-0-0-0, Totals 37-16-17-16

TITUSVILLE (7)

Sines 3-0-0-0, Garrett 3-2-1-1, Hart 4-1-1-0, Clark 3-1-1-2, Fish 3-1-1-0, Culver 3-1-1-3, Wright 1-1-1-0, Abrams 1-0-0-0, Cartney 2-0-1-0, Titus 1-0-0-0, Beach 2-0-0-0, Totals 26-7-7-6

Warren 143 231 2 – 16 17 2

Titusville 210 040 0 – 7 7 3

2B – Knapp (W) 2, Rafalski (W); 3B – Culver (T); WP – Johnson; LP – Clark

Warren

Johnson 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO

Grosch 2/3 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO

Knapp 2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 S)

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