AURORA | Smoky Hill plated three runs in the opening inning of its Centennial League baseball contest with league-leading Mullen on Thursday only to see it go downhill from there.
Coach Bob Kennedy’s Buffaloes seemed on their way to a good day in the opening inning of an afternoon matinee made necessary by the weather — which also threatened, but ultimately held off for the teams to play a pair of games at Kevin Wolitzky Field — as their first three hitters got base hits off Mustangs starter Rocco Porreco and all came around to score.
That 3-0 lead slipped away over the next few innings and the Mustangs — playing as the home team in the opener of the doubleheader — capitalized on every Smoky Hill misstep in the final three innings on they way to a come-from-behind 6-3 victory.
By the time Smoky Hill senior right-hander Parker Friedentag took the mound in the first inning, he had a three-run cushion to work with thanks to doubles by Matt and Danny McDermott, an RBI single by Evan Richards and a run-scoring groundout by Israel Rodriguez.
The Buffaloes managed just two more hits against Porreco in his next five innings — with a scoring opportunity thwarted in the third when Alan Velasquez’s well-struck grounder hit baserunner Tim Hart in the foot as he broke from second to third base to end the inning on runners interference.
Friedentag kept the the lead there for the first three innings until he hit Jonathan Miranda with a pitch to open the fourth and Maverick Handley and Jake Barr followed with singles to get Mullen on the scoreboard. Jonathan Wickersham’s sacrifice fly made it a 3-2 game after four innings.
The Mustangs tied it up with a run in the fifth when Handley’s deep infield single with two outs brought in a run and Porreco’s leadoff single in the sixth sent Kennedy to his bullpen for left-hander Spencer Macy.
Macy nearly escaped a jam, but his wild pitch with two outs allowed pinch runner Gabriel Madrid to score the go-ahead run for Mullen, which added two more runs when Joey Salvato dumped a single into short left field that ticked off the glove of shortstop Matt McDermott as he tried to make an over the shoulder catch.
Salvato came on in relief of Porreco with a three-run lead in the seventh inning and put Smoky Hill down in order to end the game.
Mullen later captured the second game of the doubleheader by a 15-3 count.
Weather permitting, Smoky Hill had an upcoming two-game Centennial League set with Grandview.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
MULLEN 6, SMOKY HILL 3
Score by innings (r-h-e):
Smoky Hill 300 000 0 — 3 6 1
Mullen 000 213 x — 6 6 1
MULLEN (ab-r-h-rbi)
Marcus Salvato 2b 1-1-0-0, Joey Salvato ss-p 4-1-2-0, Jonathan Miranda lf 1-1-0-0, Maverick Handley c 4-1-2-1, Jake Barr 3b 3-0-1-0, Rocco Porreco p-3b 3-0-1-0, Gabriel Madrid pr 0-1-0-0, Jonathan Wickersham rf 0-1-0-1, Justice Lobo-Lucio cf 3-0-0-0, Anastacio Salas 1b 2-0-0-0, Santos Maguina ph 1-0-0-0. Ttoals 22-6-6-2. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Rocco Porreco (W, 6-6-3-3-0-6), Joey Salvato (1-0-0-0-0-2).
SMOKY HILL (ab-r-h-rbi)
Matt McDermott ss 4-1-1-0, Danny McDermott 3b 4-1-1-1, Evan Richards cf 3-1-1-1, Parker Friedentag p-1b 3-0-2-0, Israel Rodriguez 2b 3-0-0-1, Tim Hart dh 3-0-1-0, Alan Velasquez lf 3-0-0-0, Hunter Cromley 1b 3-0-0-0, Julian Crook rf 3-0-0-0. Totals 29-3-6-3. Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-s0): Parker Friedentag (L, 5-5-4-4-3-0), Spencer Macy (2/3-1-2-2-2-1), Jesse Finger (1/3-0-0-0-0-0)
2B — Smoky Hill: Danny McDermott, Matt McDermott.