Warhill’s baseball team handed Lafayette its first loss of the season Wednesday thanks to a fourth-inning rally in which the Lions capitalized on several Rams errors en route to a 5-3 win.
Warhill starting pitcher Michael Brumfield (3-0) had a fearsome fastball working throughout the night before finishing with 14 strikeouts and his third-straight complete-game victory. Brumfield allowed three runs on eight hits.
“We had to kind of change up Mikey’s typical approach to pitching and basically said, ‘We’re going to challenge you and get after you,’” Warhill head coach Joe Henzel said. “We threw way more fastballs than we typically throw but we just felt like they were sitting back and looking for off-speed stuff … [Mike] proved that his fastball could outclass some swings.”
Lafayette’s Daniel Blankenship took the loss despite a strong showing in which he allowed just two earned runs on three hits over six innings.
The Rams had control early, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when catcher Matt Keane drove an RBI single to right, scoring right fielder Solomon McCray, who had doubled earlier. Meanwhile, Blankenship was cruising, sitting down the first 10 hitters he faced.
“You couldn’t ask for anything better [from Blankenship],” Lafayette head coach Rich Schenk said. “He pitched a great game… that’s why he’s my main guy.”
But things fell apart for Lafayette defensively in the fourth. After Warhill center fielder Tyler Klinedinst knocked a single to center and catcher Blake Wills blooped one just inside the left field foul line, designated hitter Jordan Hackney cleared the bases with a two-out single to right, putting the Lions up 2-1.
The rally looked like it would end with the next hitter when shortstop Thomas Richardson hit a ground ball to short, but a bad throw put runners on second and third.
Next up was Brumfield, who hit a sky-high fly ball to left that was misjudged, allowing two more runs to scores. Quickly, Warhill had a commanding 4-1 lead.
When asked what he thought made the difference, Schenk responded simply, “Lights.”
“We gave them those three [runs]. Next time was a man on second and that’s four runs right there. That was the difference,” Schenk said. “Their pitcher pitched a great game … but not making the fly ball plays in the outfield hurts.”
The Rams got going again in their half of the inning when Keane walked, shortstop Jeremiah Antle singled and center fielder Stephen Howard hit a two-run triple to cut the Lions’ lead to 4-3.
But Brumfield got stronger as the game went on and was nearly unhittable over the last three innings. After two more fly ball-induced errors in the sixth gave the Lions an insurance run, the righty struck out the side to clinch the win in the seventh.
“Luckily we were able to break through and get a lead,” Henzel said. “And I just felt real good once we got that insurance to go up 5-3, that Mikey would be able to take care of business.”
Warhill 5 Lafayette 3
Warhill – 000;401;0 – 5
Lafayette – 100;200;0 – 3
Warhill (4-1): Klinedinst 1-4 (1 run), Wills 1-3 (2 runs), Hackney 1-3 (2 RBI, 1 run)
Lafayette (4-1): McCray 1-3 (1 run), Keane 1-2 (BB, 1 RBI, 1 run), Antle 2-3 (1 run), Howard 1-3 (2 RBI)
