RCBL: DRAFT HEADED TO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

ELKTON- Stuarts Draft earned a spot into the Rockingham County Baseball League Championship series against rival Clover Hill after defeating the Elkton Blue Sox 11-3 on Monday evening.

The Diamondbacks won the best-of-five series 3-1. A clutch performance from Brandon Zollman was all the Diamondbacks needed to clinch the series and move on to face Clover Hill.

Draft head coach Tinker Kiser was glad to be moving on to the finals.

“It feels pretty good to win. They were a scrappy team and I am glad we were able to keep the season going,” said Kiser.  “Brandon [Zollman] had an all around great game for us. He got into a little trouble there in the first, but was able to get himself out of it and really settled down.“

Zollman pitched seven strong innings for the Diamondbacks giving up just three runs, but Zollman also had the best hitting night out of any of his teammates. He had three hits with four RBI in the game to lead Draft to the win.

“I had been struggling at the plate,” Zollman said. “I was just trying to look for a good pitch to hit every time up.”

“I had the fastball and slider working for me tonight. I knew I had to have a strong performance,” he said. “I thought it was the best game I had pitched all season.”

Draft struck quickly in the first inning when Jason Butterworth hit his first homerun of the season over the centerfield fence for the 1-0 lead.

Elkton tied things up in the bottom half when Shad Conrad stole home on Zollman, but he would settle down after a shaky first getting himself into a groove.

With the score 2-2 in the sixth the Diamondbacks opened the game wide open scoring three runs including two on Zollman’s RBI single.

Zollman’s RBI single in the eighth made the game 7-3 and Lance Bragg capped off a four-run ninth with a deep three-run homerun over the Right field fence to give the Diamondbacks the 11-3 lead.

“I really like our chances against Clover Hill,” Kiser said. “They are playing really good baseball, but I think our guys are capable of going out there Wednesday and beating them.”

Draft will begin their quest for the RCBL title on the road Wednesday against Clover Hill.