Cape baseball survives 16 strikeouts to win at Central 6-4

The Cape baseball game at Sussex Central April 5 was flatter than a frozen pancake with sun-drenched temperatures near 40 degrees and a howling north wind hovering near 20 mph. The first two innings took an hour to play, and after two-and-a-half, the Vikings led 4-0. For the fans who peeked out from under their parkas and caps, there did seem to be a lot of batters striking out on both teams and few balls put into play.

Cape prevailed in the contest 6-4 to go to 3-0 on the young season in spite of striking out a total of 16 times, 12 credited to Central pitcher Trevor Collins over five innings and four more to Jake Brewington. Both hurlers are sophomores.

Cape starter Austin Elliot threw four innings, recording five strikeouts. Will Jarrell came on in relief, facing seven batters and striking out six, but a Central rally in the bottom of the seventh inning scored three runs to close the Cape lead to 6-4.

The Golden Knights had the bases loaded with one out when sophomore David Erickson came on in relief and closed the door for a Cape win.

"Sixteen Ks is awful, and we will have major issues versus Caravel if we don’t make contact,” said Cape coach Ben Evick. "Austin [Elliot] threw well and Will Jarrell would have closed it out in the seventh, but we booted two balls and went to David Erickson, who is more of a classic closer, to close out the game.”

Ben Ashby was 2-for-3 with a double while Chris Harrison of the Golden Knights was also 2-for-3 with a double. Each team managed five hits in the ball game.

The Vikings will play at Caravel Friday, April 10, at 7 p.m.