Baseball Recap: Keyport Takes a Loss

Keyport had lost four straight at home, but on Monday they dropped their record down to 5-8 to make it five. They fell just short of the Lakewood Piners by a score of 8-6. The Raiders were not able to repeat the success they had when they faced the Piners earlier this season, when they won 20-5.

Tristan Knoblauch was huge while hitting and pitching even without the win. On the mound, he struck out nine batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Knoblauch was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his five plate appearances with three stolen bases, two RBI, and one run.

In other batting news, Derek Ferm made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and got on base in four of his five plate appearances with five stolen bases and two runs. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played.

As for Lakewood, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.5 runs over those games.

Like Keyport, Lakewood also got a great game from a two-way player: Cris Rosario. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out nine batters over four innings while giving up just two earned (and two unearned) runs off two hits. Rosario was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with three runs, one stolen base, and one double. He has become a key player for Lakewood: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 2-9 otherwise.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Fernando Gomez, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and two RBI. Jason Gonzalez was another key player, going 1-for-4 with two runs and one stolen base.

Keyport has already played their next matchup (against Delaware Valley), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Lakewood also has no score uploaded for their next game, this one against Pinelands Regional.