D’backs slam Blue Sox

STUARTS DRAFT – For the six-and-a-half innings played, Stuarts Draft controlled all aspects of the game, taking a 15-0 slaughter-rule win over Elkton on Thursday, due in part to Josh Ellwood’s two home runs.

Every Diamondback contributed to the game in one form or another, with almost every player getting at least one hit. The Blue Sox couldn’t keep up with the D’backs, who allowed only four hits from Elkton, three of which came in the seventh inning.

Draft started to run up the score in the second inning with Ellwood putting the first run on the board with a hit to right field that brought in Trip Kiser. The bases were then loaded with Wes Harlow’s walk and Brandon Zollman’s RBI to right field scored Adam Gilbert. Jason Butterworth then stepped up and drove in two runs with a rip up the middle. Back-to-back walks forced Zollman home and a sacrifice fly from Drew Dobbins brought in Butterworth. The D’backs ended the second with a 6-0 lead and went three-up, three-down.

The D’backs came out in the third with the same game plan as the second inning and continued to run up the score. Ellwood led off the inning with a home run over the right field fence. Zollman hit a liner to right and Butterworth’s blooper to the same place put Zollman in scoring position. Jay Thompson’s sacrifice fly scored Zollman. Brandon Clark then dug in and sent one straight over the center field fence for a two-run homer. Dobbins was the last to score in the inning after Gilbert’s hit to the fence, putting the score at 11-0.

“The guy on the hill makes the difference,” said Draft coach Tinker Kiser. “They [Elkton] have some first class pitching, but they weren’t there tonight.”

The D’backs came out in the fourth and fifth innings and scored two more runs, the first off an RBI from Clark and the other coming from another Ellwood homerun.

“I was just seeing the ball all night,” Ellwood put it simply. “This was my first shot to play the field this year.”

Ellwood’s home runs were the first for him this season. he has only had five at bats.

“He’ll get some swings in,” Kiser said. “Anyone who could do what he did will get the opportunities.”

Ellwood’s usually a pitcher, but due to elbow troubles he has been sitting out for most games.

“He’s even considering elbow surgery,” Kiser said. “He had a chance to get a start at first tonight, though.”

The game didn’t end with Ellwood’s second home run, though. The D’backs came out in the sixth inning, their final inning, to score two more runs off of a RBI double from Butterworth and sacrifice fly from Clark.

“We’re still in control of our destiny,” Kiser said.