On a chilly, sunny spring day in Brooklandville, Gilman junior pitcher Brandon Casas pitched a gem to shutout host St. Paul’s, 5-0, in MIAA A Conference baseball, on Friday.
Gilman jumped on the St. Paul’s early, using an RBI single from junior Matt Collins in the first inning, and a RBI groundout from sophmore Matt Tilley in the second inning to go up 2-0 on the Crusaders’ starter junior Lamonte Wade. Wade pitched well on the day, striking out six batters and avoiding the big inning, while scattering five hits and walking just one over six innings. His mates, however, could not break through against the Greyhound ace.
The early 2-0 lead proved to be all Casas would need, as he was able to get out of jams in the second and third innings. In the second, he picked a runner off first and then got and infield roller for an inning ending double play. In the third, Casas shut down a potential two out rally for the Crusaders by getting a strikeout to strand two runners in scoring position.
The Greyhounds got insurance in the sixth when Collins got another RBI single, and later scored on a wild pitch. Senior Luca Simmons further padded the lead with an RBI single in the seventh inning to go up 5-0.
Casas finished his complete game shutout by striking out the final batter, his eighth on the day. He allowed only five hits and one walk, getting the first win on the season for the Greyhounds.
Gilman is now 9-1 overall, and 1-0 in MIAA A league play. The Greyhounds will play John the Baptist High School on Saturday before returning to league action on Tuesday with a huge game at Calvert Hall, which is a rematch of last year’s MIAA Baseball finals. St. Paul’s falls to 1-1 in the MIAA, 4-3 overall, and will travel to Archbishop Spalding on Monday.
Gilman 5, St. Paul’s 0
GIL 110 002 1 — 5 8 0
SP 000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Casas and Simmons; Wade, Agone (7) and R. Lucido.
WP-Casas LP-Wade
2B: GIL-Tilley, Pedroni; SP-Gaines.
