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Pound the Zone: Miller baseball beats Covenant

Photo by Bart Isley

Miller baseball’s Simon Lewellen has a pretty simple philosophy on the mound.

 

“I always just try and pound the zone,” Lewellen said. “Any team, I have the same approach — kill or be killed.”

 

Monday in a rivalry clash with Covenant, Lewellen shook off a tough first inning, allowing just one hit, two walks and a couple of hit by pitches in four innings of work while striking out seven as the Mavericks picked up a 6-1 win over the Eagles.

 

In a game where the Mavericks seemed to be in complete control despite the scoreboard staying tight before Covenant’s errors piled up, Lewellen allowed the Eagles to draw first blood by walking in Covenant’s lone run in the first inning. Instead of coming unglued, Lewellen bore down, allowing just one more baserunner in the next three innings, a Marcus Bunch triple that didn’t result in any runs.

 

“I’m proud of him because probably a year ago he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the first inning,” Miller coach Billy Wagner said. “He found it and kept pounding that zone and found his breaking ball. I think that was a big key for him just staying confident.”

 

Meanwhile, Miller took advantage of six errors by the Eagles to expand an early 2-1 lead off a Jack Carey RBI single that scored Ethan Chenaulty and Garrett Payne who’d reached on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Manufacturing runs and being smart on the basepaths is going to have to be a major part of Miller’s approach this year at least early on.

 

“They had a good pitcher obviously, but we still have really good hitters, one through nine they always compete,” Lewellen said. “But we’re a scrappy team this year and we’re going to try and win with our scrappiness.”

 

It didn’t hurt that Covenant’s Wes Arrington was throwing pretty well too. In five innings he struck out four and allowed just four hits while surrendering three earned runs. The errors behind him piled up though and put the Eagles in a deeper than one swing could get save them from.

 

“I don’t want to take anything away from their pitcher, he made some real good pitches and held us at bay — pitching-wise they’re tough,” Wagner said. “We took advantage of a few mistakes. We have talent, we’re just inexperienced.”

 

It helped Miller too that Ian Haney’s relief effort was superb as he struck out four and allowed just one hit in his three innings on the mound.

 

Offensively, Carey had the lone two RBI for the Mavericks with Chenault, Henry Hardie and Jacob Exum also registering hits.

 

Declan Kent, who didn’t allow a hit in his one inning on the mound but fell victim to an unearned run, had the Eagles’ lone RBI by drawing the first inning walk. Bunch had the triple and Chaz Harvey and Jake Hoadley each had singles.

 

Miller was coming off a 6-2 win over Steward Saturday that played out similarly in some ways as the score didn’t betray quite how in control the Mavericks were. In that win, Payne struck out seven and allowed just two runs in six innings of work. Covenant fell 3-0 to Woodberry last Tuesday in their last outing, with Arrington striking out 13 in the loss.

 

Friday, Miller will host St. Anne’s-Belfield at 5 p.m. while the Eagles host Eastern Mennonite Tuesday afternoon.

 

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