Darton baseball crushes ABAC for 15th straight win

ALBANY — As the NJCAA baseball and softball seasons begin to hit the home stretch, there’s no better time for a team to hit its stride.

Darton State College boasts two teams peaking at the right time. The softball team is currently riding a 12-game win streak, while the baseball team kept things rolling Thursday with a 12-4 Region XVII win against ABAC to stretch its winning streak to 15.

“I’m probably not the easiest coach in the world to please, but I have to say these guys are really playing,” Darton coach Scot Hemmings said. “They’re playing hard, they’re playing with energy. They’re playing with a will to win this conference championship. There’s a different feeling this year. Last year we were playing not to lose, but this year we’re playing to win.”

The Cavs’ onslaught of the past 15 games has been led by first baseman Brandon Sharpe. Sharpe led Region XVII in RBIs (48) and was second in home runs (5) coming into Thursday’s game.

Sharpe, who had a two-run blast in the fourth inning to put Darton ahead 11-3, agrees that the streak has been the result of the right pieces falling into place at the right time.

“It’s been the same effort 15 games in a row,” he said. “It’s been there all year, it’s just finally starting to click together. We struggled at the beginning of the year. We’re finally starting to come together, and it feels good.”

This one looked to be a blowout early, as the Cavs burst out of the gates with a six-hit, six-run first inning. After Hill Thomas walked and Ventavis Jerger singled, outfielder Riliani Familia laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases for Sharpe, who plated Jerger and Thomas with a single to right field.

The next Darton at-bat, Payton Mann hit a blooper to shallow right field to drive in another run. After Luis Salas laid down a perfect bunt, William Golden was hit by a pitch to force in yet another run. By the time ABAC pitcher Turner Edwards could get out of the first inning, he’d dug himself into a 6-0 hole.

By the end of the night, four of Darton’s hits were via perfectly executed bunts.

“That’s part of our game,” Hemmings said of the Cavs’ proficient bunting. “Running, bunting, hitting behind runners. The guys buy into it. They’re very unselfish, and they do a great job of it. We’ve put up over 100 runs in the past two and a half weeks, and it’s a credit to these guys not being selfish.”

Whatever momentum didn’t come from great base running, came from the bat of Sharpe.

After Familia reached third on a fielding error by ABAC first baseman which scored two runners, Sharpe took ABAC’s Michael Dike deep over the right-center wall for a two-run home run, putting the Cavs ahead 11-3 in the fourth inning. The homer, his sixth of the season, boosted his RBI total to 52. Sharpe went 3-for-4 and accounted for five runs. Familia went 2-for-3 with an RBI of his own.

“Our athleticism shows,” Sharpe said. “If we put the ball on the ground, we’re going to get there. We’ve got guys who can absolutely fly, and when guys get on (base), they have to pitch to us. That’s been our success, both the top and bottom of our order have been clicking.”

Freshman pitcher Cole Antmann picked up the win with five innings pitched, six hits and two earned runs.

Darton will close out its series with the Stallions with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday. If they can win both games, they’ll break the school record for longest win streak. Sharpe and the Cavaliers aren’t shying away from the potential milestone.

“Last year, we had a 16-game win streak, and we actually lost it here on our home field,” Sharpe said. “It’s been in the back of everybody’s minds. We try to keep it under the radar, but everybody on campus knows. It goes without saying we’re trying to win any game, but we’re definitely trying to beat last year. A longer win streak equals more conference wins for us, so it puts us in a better position.”

The win boosted the Cavs record to 32-13 overall and 22-4 in the region. ABAC fell to 14-24 overall and 11-15 in the region.