May Day came on March 29. Mile May belted two home runs and Cory Stively tossed a one-hit shutout to power the Solanco baseball team to a 10-0 five-inning triumph over visiting Lebanon Friday afternoon. May's homer to lead off the home half of the second inning was the first roundtripper of his high school career. The junior third baseman's two-run blast in the fourth marked the first two-homer game of his life.
"It's been a long time since any of my teams have hit a home run and he hit two in one game," Solanco coach Tom Fish said. "He was locked in. That was cool to see. He's definitely capable of that and it's nice to have a little pop in the order." Stively, who recorded six strikeouts, allowed a leadoff walk in the second then retired Lebanon's last 12 batters. "One time through the order, he really got his groove," Fish said. "He made it look pretty easy out there the last three innings. That's the Cory we know and he's going to lead us this year." Stively escaped a jam in the first inning. Lebanon's leadoff batter walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and stole third. But Stively got the next hitter on a liner to center then caught the cleanup hitter looking for a strikeout. "Everything was working," Stively said. "It felt good." May started the second by smashing a fast ball over the left field fence. "I got all of it, definitely," said May. "I knew it right off the bat." May took a curve for a ball before crushing a fastball. "After the first inning, I saw he threw a lot of off-speed pitches," May said. "With the first pitch curveball a ball I knew he would have to come back and try to even it out, so I was just ready for it." The Golden Mules tallied twice in the fourth. John Murray drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hunter Shaw was hit by a pitch and both baserunners moved up on another wild pitch. Joel McGuire plated Murray with a sacrifice fly to center and Sam Buckwalter delivered an RBI single to left. "Getting runs, that's the best feeling in the world," Stively said. "That means I have more room for error." Solanco ended the game with a seven-run rally in the fifth. Ethan Clary ignited the uprising with a double deep down the left field line. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Grady Unger reached on an error. Tim Fetterman walked, and with runners on second and third following a stolen base, Murray produced a two-run single through the hole to make it 6-0. That brought May to the plate and he clubbed a curve over the left field fence. "I feel really good," said May. "I feel locked in and ready to go this season." Shaw followed with a double to left. Following the first out of the frame, Buckwalter walked and Shaw scored on a throwing error while Buckwalter was stealing second. With two outs, Buckwalter stole third and scored on a throwing error on the play to enact the mercy rule. "I feel great," said Stively. "We're coming this year. We're going to be big. We've got big stuff coming, that's for sure." Solanco opened the season with a 12-1 victory at Elizabethtown last Wednesday. Haydn Fox fanned five and yielded a run and three hits in five innings of work. The senior righty struck out the side in the third after Shaw had singled in a pair in the top half to extended the Mules lead to 5-0. Shaw had two hits and three RBIs on the day. May collected two hits and two RBIs and scored twice. Murray also supplied two hits and two RBIs. Buckwalter notched two hits. Solanco did not commit an error in its first two games. "We're making the plays," Fish said. "I'm proud of the guys. We worked hard in the winter and the spring and tried to be creative and do a lot of different things. The kids were all in. I didn't have any older kids missing open gyms or practices. We have been 100 percent dedicated and all in. And I think it definitely shows with two really impressive wins to get started." The Mules face a challenging slate this week with road games against Conestoga Valley Monday and Ephrata Wednesday before hosting Lampeter-Strasburg Friday. Comments are closed.
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