WILMINGTON – Appoquinimink pitcher Ryan Steckline struggled through his first run against the St. Georges lineup as he allowed one run and three baserunners in the first two innings.
Appoquinimink’s Ryan Steckline throws in Appoquinimink’s 4-1 win against St. Georges Thursday at Frawley Stadium.
Steckline adjusted his approach and took command of the game as he shut down the Hawks over the final five innings with the help of his defense to lead the Jaguars to a 4-1 victory in a nondivisional Blue Hen Conference baseball game Thursday night at Frawley Stadium.
“I went through the lineup once, or twice, and I saw what they like, I saw how they were hitting and I realized my curveball was on a lot more than my fastball,” Steckline said. “So, I relied on that throughout the game.”
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One reason for Steckline’s reversal of fortune was that he realized that he was leaving his fastball up in the zone, allowing the potent St. Georges offense to hit the ball hard, and he adjusted by throwing his curveball and changeup low in the strike zone more often.
That allowed him to keep the Hawks off-balanced as he forced them to in nine groundouts and two infield popouts, and the Appoquinimink defense made a couple of strong plays behind him to allow Steckline to pitch in comfortable situations.
“It’s huge. I rely on ground balls, and my team was there to back me up,” Steckline, who gave up three hits and struck out five, said. “They make me feel a lot more comfortable on the mound.”
The Jaguars (14-3) did all off their offensive damage in the first two innings, taking advantage of a couple of St. Georges (11-3) miscues. Appoquinimink scored first when Javon Fields scored as a result of two Hawk defenders colliding on a John Weglarz single in the bottom of the first.
The lead was short-lived as St. Georges tied the game in the top of the second with one run. Aidan Riley tripled to lead off the inning and scored on Riley Klepacki’s squeeze but.
The Jaguars regained the lead in the bottom of the second as they scored three runs without a hit. Joe Otto and Mikayle Holloway scored on a pair of bases loaded walks to give Appoquinimink a 3-1 lead.
Weglarz capped the scoring when he drove in Chandler Fitzgerald with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1, and while they knew they did not have their best day at the plate, the Jaguars did just enough to manufacture runs.
“I don’t think we played a very good offensive game today, but we were able to apply some pressure on them them,” Appoquinimink head coach Billy Cunningham said. “When they made mistakes, we were able to capitalize on them.”