Chaffee baseball team collects 20th win with late explosion vs. Saxony Lutheran

It took three innings for Chaffee's bats to warm up Thursday.

They overheated the next two innings.

The Red Devils pounded 13 hits and 14 runs over the fourth and fifth innings to post a 16-1 victory in five innings over host Saxony Lutheran.

"That's [two] things all year long we've been real good @ -- pitching and defensively," said Chaffee coach Brian Horrell, whose team improved to 20-2. "It was finally good to see our bats come alive there. It took us a little while, but when we finally got it going, it was nice. We got some bunts down. We executed a hit and run today. We finally got going offensively. That's good to see this time of year."

Chaffee sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and 15 in the fifth.

Saxony Lutheran first baseman Tyler Koenig catches a Chaffee infield popup during the second inning Thursday, May 3, 2012 at Saxony Lutheran. (Fred Lynch)

It was a far cry from their first time through the lineup.

"Unfortunately that's the way we've been all year," Chaffee sophomore Cody Payne said. "Normally it takes one good inning and we'll jump out. We'll throw up a five or six spot in that inning, but we just rely on our gloves."

Chaffee played an error-free game in the field.

The defensive highlight came from Payne, a sophomore catcher.

"Coaches are always working on us, telling us [to make] better throws, not just rushing it and letting everything go," Payne said. "But just take your time and try and get a good shot in, so that's what I did."

Chaffee catcher Cody Payne shows the ball after tagging out Saxony Lutheran’s Jon Winkler, who attempted to steal home during the first inning Thursday at Saxony Lutheran. (Fred Lynch)

Payne gunned down two runners at second and tagged out another Crusader attempting to steal home.

"We have a lot of faith in [Payne] back there," Horrell said. "I think he was second team all-state last year as a freshman. Boy, there's just not many around as good as him behind the plate. We're very lucky to have him.

"As you saw today, they tested him a couple times and he made a couple nice throws down there, and that helps your defense when you take those guys off the basepaths."

Chaffee pitcher Alex Crowe certainly appreciated Payne behind the plate.

"It's good knowing you can throw it wherever you want," Crowe said. "Even if the batter doesn't swing, you know Cody's going to throw them out. Cody's got a cannon. Not many people steal successfully off him."

Chaffee’s Alex Crowe delivers a pitch to a Saxony Lutheran batter during the fourth inning Thursday at Saxony Lutheran. A photo gallery can be viewed at semoball.com. (Fred Lynch)

The Crusaders (11-8) trailed just 2-1 after three innings before they fall apart.

"Early in the game we came out and caught up with their pitcher pretty good and got two or three hits, and then we played pretty good defense for two or three innings," Saxony coach Paul Sander said. "Then the walks and errors that are our Achilles' heel caught up with us. We don't have the type of team that can walk five or six batters a game or allow three, four or five errors a game and beat good teams."

Saxony's lone run scored on Jon Winkler's double in the first inning.

The Crusaders compounded six walks with four errors and several other miscues in the field.

"We have the type of team that's kind of hard to figure out," Sander said. "We can play some real good ball. We've got a lot of new starters this year. We can play ball real well at times, and other times our defense really struggles."

The Crusaders' offense failed to pick up the defense.

Crowe, a senior, limited Saxony to one run on three hits.

"All year long we've got three pitchers we trust running out there, and Crowe's just as good as anybody we got," Horrell said. "They got him the first inning. He made a couple nice pitches. They just put some good swings on the ball and got a double down the line. He was making quality pitches, and he really settled in after that."

Chaffee had six batters with multiple hits. Payne and Daniel Dooley led the way with three hits apiece. Layton Tenkhoff had a triple, while Dooley, Alex Davie, Storm Estes and Dylan Dunlap had doubles.

Chaffee 110 59 -- 16 16 0

Saxony Lutheran 100 00 -- 1 3 4

WP -- Alex Crowe. LP -- Ethan Mirly. 3B -- Layton Tenkhoff (C). 2B -- Daniel Dooley (C), Alex Davie (C), Storm Estes (C), Dylan Dunlap (C), Jon Winkler (S). Multiple Hits -- Chaffee: Cody Payne 3-4, Dooley 3-4, Davie 2-3, Tenkhoff 2-3, Estes 2-3. Records -- Chaffee 20-2, Saxony Lutheran 11-8.