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Sports

Prep Baseball: Kenwood Tops Sparrows Point

McGeeney tosses a complete-game two-hitter in 10-1 Bluebirds win.

After losing its 2011 season opener at Pikesville on Friday, Kenwood's  baseball team bounced back in a big way on Monday with a 10-1 win over visiting Sparrows Point.

Senior pitcher Gene McGeeney pitched a complete game, allowing one run and two hits to pick up the win for the Bluebirds (1-1). Battling against 45-degree weather and a persistent gust of chilly wind, McGeeney walked six batters, but worked out of trouble with ease.

After quickly putting down the Pointers in the top of the first inning, the Bluebirds attacked early, taking advantage of two Sparrows Point errors.

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Senior center fielder Chad Goings reached first base on a throwing error, then stole second. Later in the inning, junior third baseman Anthony Pelekakis drove Goings home with an RBI single.

Kenwood established a definitive lead in the third inning as the Bluebirds scored five times, taking advantage of five walks in the inning.

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Goings, a speedy transfer from St. Frances, was a difference-maker in the inning as he hit a two-run single with the bases loaded that drove in junior left fielder Justin Kitko and senior pinch runner Mike Davis. Maryland-bound Shane Campbell also drove in two runs in the inning.

McGeeney also helped his own cause by scoring twice before he settled down on the mound and retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. The last hit he allowed—a single in the sixth inning—was quickly erased as McGeeney fielded a hard-hit chopper, which he converted into a double play.

 Kenwood coach Jay Diggs said it was important for McGeeney to pitch a complete game as the Bluebirds wanted to conserve their pitching staff for their other three games this week.

“It’s very important when we have a busy week that we can have a guy pitch the whole game," Diggs said. "It’s a real shot in the arm.”

Diggs also was pleased in the way that his team dealt with the cold.

“In conditions like these, some teams deal with them better than others," Diggs said. "We dealt with them well, we made all the routine plays, and because of that, we won the game.”

The Bluebirds look to continue their winning ways with three more games this week, visiting Woodlawn today, before hosting local rival Chesapeake on Thursday and traveling to Towson on Saturday.

 

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