Vernon Cyclones sweep twin bill in Sparta

SPARTA — The 14U Vernon Cyclones travel baseball team traveled to Sparta this past Sunday for a doubleheader against the Sparta Muckdogs.

In game one, George Gutierrez took the mound and pitched a solid 6 innings, letting up only 1 run on 3 hits. The Cyclones took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Max Rodriguez got a base hit then stole second and third, and scored on a base hit from Gutierrez. The Cyclones continued to hit the ball hard scoring 10 more runs on 16 hits for a 11-1 victory.

Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two base hits, inclulding a triple, 4 RBIs and 2 runs scored.

In game two, the Cyclones were the home team and Jadon Mutz took the mound and pitched 6 shutout innings and letting up only 5 base hits. Behind the plate catching for the Cyclones was Adam Driscoll, who threw out all four runners attempting to steal second base.

The Cyclone bats struggled in game two and, after 5 innings of baseball, the game was scoreless. D.J. Springstead led off the sith inning with a walk and stole second base. Ryan Bell also walked. Up next was Max Rodriguez, the first pitch was a wild pitch in the dirt that advanced the runners to second and third. Rodriguez, now with a 2-2 count, hit a base hit down the first-base line for a walk-off single for a 1-0 win over Sparta.

The Cyclones have not made a defensive error in the last 21 innings of play and are now in first place with a 9-0 record, scoring 98 runs and letting up only 13. Next weekend the Cyclones will travel to North Edison to play in their Memorial Day Tournament.