Knights roll past St. Andrews on Opening Day of Boys Of Summer Classic in Summerville, SC

Austin Hansell had a huge game going 4 for 4 with 2 RBI's and 2 Runs
scored in the win over St. Andrews.

The Marietta Knights used a huge offensive explosion to cruise past Charleston's St. Andrews Rocks 17-7 in the opening round of the Boys of Summer Classic at the Gahagan Sports Complex in Summerville, South Carolina. The Knights made the trip to the tournament outside of Charleston to close out their 2014 season. They got off to a great start with the big win.

The visiting Knights were tense as they trailed 1-0 going into the 3rd inning. They left the bases loaded in the 1st and left a runner on 2nd in the 2nd. But concerns of a shutout were extinguished after Jackson Tysinger and Austin Schubert led off the 3rd with back to back doubles to tie the game. George Krivsky followed up with a triple to score Schubie and came home on a single by Austin Hansell. Hunter Williamson brought Austin home with a single and the Knights led 4-1. Gil Hastings singled and Will Nelson took a curve ball off the arm to load the bases. Hunter came home on a bases loaded walk to Presley Field and Garrett Wells singled in Gil to push the lead to 6-1. Jackson singled to pick up his second hit of the inning and an RBI. Schubie grounded out to 3rd to score another and it was 8-1. George followed with a 2 out, 2 run single and scored on Austin's second RBI single of the inning to give the Knights an 11-1 lead. Coach Rob believes the 11 runs scored is the most runs in an inning in franchise history.



George Krivsky led the offensive onslaught
going 3 for 4 with a triple and 3 RBI's.

Give the Rocks credit because they didn't let the big inning or the brutal heat get them down. They came right back in the bottom of the inning with 4 runs to cut the Knights lead to 11-5. Gil walked and stole 2nd and 3rd in the top of the 4th and scored on a single by Presley to push the lead to 12-5. The Rocks cut it to 12-6 in the bottom of the 4th with back to back singles and an OF error. Jackson delivered the Defensive Play of the game to stop the threat. With a runner on 1st, he fielded a hot grounder at the mound and gunned to Mason Doyle covering 2nd to get the lead runner. He then got 2 more ground ball outs to Hunter and Presley to preserve the 6 run lead going to the 5th.

The Knights put things out of reach in the 5th with 5 more runs thanks to hits by Schubie, Austin, Mason and Will (2 RBI's). The Rocks added one more run and Presley came in to close out the win with 2 ground ball outs. For the second time this season, every Knights player scored in the game. Austin Hansell was 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored. George was 3 for 4 with a triple and 3 RBI's and Schubie was 3 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI's.



Presley Field was solid in 2 appearances on the mound.

After the Rocks win, the Knights faced off against the talented Beaufort Beast. The Beast were big and intense and jumped on the Knights early. The Knights didn't play poorly, but when their pitchers couldn't find the strike zone, the disciplined Beast took the walks and pounced on the pitches that did find the plate. Meanwhile, the bats that were so hot in the early game went cold and the Beast cruised to a shutout win. Nonetheless, the Knights made two great Defensive Plays of the Game against the big hitting Beast. The outfield was playing deep when a Beaufort player hit a flare into shallow CF. Jackson took off on a sprint, dove and caught the ball just before it hit the ground for a big out. The second came when Hunter ranged to his left from his 2B position and made a diving catch of a line drive that Beaufort's #5 hitter scorched towards RF.

It was a good day for the Knights in the Open tournament. They picked up a solid victory out of state and played good baseball.

Austin Hansell slides in just ahead of the tag in a bang bang play at the plate to extend the Knights
lead over St. Andrews lead as Coach Steven looks on.