Woodland uses quick gloves, loud bats to defeat Advance 11-2

~ The Cardinals defeated the Hornets for the second timethis season.

MARBLE HILL -- Woodland pitcher Kyle Reynolds stuck his glove down near his ankles to catch a screaming line drive then fired to third base to double off the lead runner.

"That's those catlike reflexes there, Garfield," Woodland coach Jason Crane joked as he watched his pitcher from the front of the dugout.

Reynolds' nice defensive play in the seventh inning helped him out of a jam after two runners reached scoring position without any outs. It was the second straight inning that the right-handed senior hurler was able to keep Advance scoreless despite the first two batters reaching second and third base before an out had been recorded.

Reynolds pitched his way out of three different jams while tossing a complete game. He allowed one earned run on eight hits. Meanwhile, the Woodland batters smashed 14 hits against four different Advance pitchers as the Cardinals rolled to an 11-2 victory Thursday.

"You've got to always be aware of who's on base," Reynolds said about the double play he turned. "I looked at second base first. He was back. And then I looked at third and he wasn't. They [the sixth and seventh innings] felt really good because I beared down and just tried to make good pitches and try to keep them off balance a little."

It was the second time Woodland (5-10) beat the Hornets (5-8) this season.

Reynolds escaped trouble in the fourth by only allowing one run after the first two batters reached and three different batters stroked hits.

He was able to escape the sixth-inning jam by getting three ground ball outs. One of the grounders rolled to third baseman Jesse Long, who fired to home to gun down the lead runner. The other two grounders went right back to Reynolds, who easily scooped them and recorded the outs.

"Kyle fields his position pretty well," Crane said. "It's important to keep throwing strikes there and trust your defense and let them help you. He was able to do that. He's pretty mentally tough."

Reynolds relied heavily on the defense, which played well after committing a first-inning error that helped Advance take a 1-0 lead. Reynolds struck out only two batters.

Woodland senior Sam Long went 2-for-3 with four RBIs. He knocked in the tying run in the second and smashed a two-run single in the third for a 4-1 lead.

"We kind of listened to coach who's been telling us a lot to be patient up there at the plate," Long said. "We just kept our eye on the ball and hit it where we had to."

Advance starter Jacob Bond lasted 2 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits and took the loss.

Assistant coach Dirk Eggimann coached Advance because coach Allen Pearman was suspended one game after he was thrown out of a contest against Charleston on Tuesday.

"We've got to give their hitters credit," Eggimann said about Woodland. "Their whole team hit the ball and made the plays. We didn't make the plays and we didn't hit the ball very well today."

Advance 100 100 0 -- 2 8 2

Woodland 023 060 x -- 11 14 3

WP -- Kyle Reynolds, 2-1. LP -- Jacob Bond, 2-3. 2B -- Reynolds 2 (W), Trevor Blake (W). Multiple hits -- Woodland: Martin Williams 2-3, Neil Johnson 2-4, Reynolds 2-4, Sam Long 2-3, Andrew Minson 3-4. Advance -- Dylan Dunnivan 2-3, Garret Mayo 2-3, Kyndel Page 2-3, Ryan Moses 2-3. Records -- Advance 5-8, Woodland 5-10.