WORTON — Coach Mike Iacona checked at least one box for Kent County High School’s baseball team Saturday when the Trojans won their fourth game, doubling their regular-season win total of 2025.
Senior Scottie Ford swatted his first out-of-the-park home run and freshman Jake Stumpf pitched three scoreless innings in the 12-0 start as KCHS defeated Saints Peter & Paul of Easton, 16-6, in a rare out-of-conference game.
The Trojans are 4-11 with three games this week to wrap up the regular season.
Saturday’s game at Spry Field on the KCHS campus was the locals’ fourth game of the week.
Coach Iacona was mindful to keep Stumpf’s pitch count under 60 — he threw 55 pitches — because the freshman right-hander is expected to be the starter for tomorrow’s home game against North Dorchester. [Game time is 4 p.m.]
In his three scoreless innings, Stumpf struck out three batters while issuing only one walk.
He had plenty of run support.
Ford, a triple-threat athlete who is headed to King’s College in Pennsylvania in the fall as a wrestling recruit, gave the Trojans a 2-0 lead with one away that was never threatened. Batting third in the order, Ford blasted a shot that cleared the left field fence with leadoff batter Stumpf aboard.
The Trojans pushed four more runs across in the last of the second inning after designated hitter Colton Ford, Zayvion Brown and Stumpf reached on consecutive free passes to start things off.
The lead swelled to 12-0 after Kent County batted in the third. Freshman Paul Roberts’ leadoff single was one of only two hits the locals had in the six-run frame. Braden Wilson’s single was the other hit. KCHS also benefited from three walks, Stumpf’s sac fly and a hitter batter that brought in a run.
Roberts replaced Stumpf on the hill to start the fourth inning as Kent County made wholesale changes in its lineup, i.e., “switched a lot of kids out,” said Iacona, who ultimately cleared his bench.
Saints Peter & Paul scored five runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth.
Roberts threw 29 pitches, before being relieved by Drew Haas with two away in the fourth.
Haas threw 35 pitches in 2 1/3 innings.
The game ended due to the 10-run “mercy” rule after six innings.
Senior outfielder Tyrel “Teeter” Dean hit for himself in the later innings — Colton Ford had been the DH — and reached both times. He drew a walk in the fourth and singled for his first hit of the season in the fifth, and scored both times.
Sophomore Owen Sutton, a backup catcher, also had his first hit of the season; he singled in the sixth and ultimately scored. Defensively, Sutton also was part of a successful rundown between third base and the plate.
Earlier in the week, also at home, left-hander Aiden Crouch pitched well in a 10-3 loss to Colonel Richardson.
After giving up four runs in the first inning, Crouch kept the Colonels [12-3] off the board until they scored three times in the top of the fifth with two away.
He threw 103 pitches; 105 is the maximum allowed for juniors and seniors in Maryland’s public high schools.
Haas threw 25 pitches in relief of Crouch, and gave up three runs.
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WORTON — Kent County picked up its third win on April 16 at home against Crisfield, 8-3.
It was Senior Day for the Trojans, who rallied with five runs in the last of the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Senior Noah Iacona picked up the win in relief of Stumpf, who reached the maximum of 95 pitches after six innings.
Iacona threw 22 pitches in a scoreless seventh when he faced only four batters.
Base hits from Iacona and Nate Sutton wrapped around a Scottie Ford double produced two runs in the first inning, and the Trojans never trailed.
Iacona’s single in the third plated Dean, who drew a leadoff walk, to stretch the lead to 3-1.
Crisfield [3-8] scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to deadlock at 3-3.
The Crabbers had the go-ahead run on first with one out in the fifth when the Trojans turned a 4-6-3 double play to avert any more run damage.
In the home half of the fifth, Stumpf, who drew a one-out walk and then alertly swiped two bases in one attempt, was stranded at third to keep it a 3-3 game.
Stumpf retired Crisfield in order in the sixth, striking out the side, while running his total number of pitches to 96.
KCHS regained the lead in the last of the sixth, scoring five runs with two away.
Wilson lined a single through the left side to lead off, and would go on to score what held up as the winning run.
Nate Sutton beat out a bunt and pinch hitter Roberts, swinging from the left side of the plate, deposited a single in shallow center field to load the bases with one away.
The next KCHS batter whiffed for the second out.
A wild pitch during Dean’s at-bat brought home Wilson for a 4-3 lead, and the other two runners — Sutton and Roberts — moved into scoring position.
Dean subsequently walked to restack the bases for Stumpf, who connected with the first pitch for a line drive single that plated Sutton with the insurance run and Roberts to make it 6-3.
Iacona [3-for-4] followed with a base hit to the left field fence that brought in two more runs, extending the spread to 8-3.
To salt away the win, Iacona, in relief of Stumpf, fanned the first two batters he faced in the seventh before issuing a meaningless walk. He got the next batter to fly out to Dean in deep left field to end the game.
