craigdailypress.com

Before a record crowd of 602 people, Bulldogs varsity catcher Rob Satterwhite, a junior, drilled a two-run home run and pinch hitter C.J. Rugh, a junior, added a solo home run to down the Steamboat Springs Sailors, 11-3, Tuesday at Craig Middle School field.

Moffat County High School (MCHS) moved to 8-3 on the season and 2-0 in league play. The Sailors fell to 1-7 on the year and 1-3 in conference play.

"The crowd was awesome," said coach Kip Hafey. "If you were not out here you missed something. It was pretty fantastic. What a great community we live in and what support they have for baseball."

The players enjoyed playing in front of the large crowd.

"I think that it was great to see a lot of fans out here," said freshman Jerod Estey, the winning pitcher. "I wish that it was like this every game. It's a lot of fun playing in front of a lot of people."

"It was nice to go 2-0 in league play and beat Steamboat Springs," said third baseman Mike St. Martin. "I sure appreciate all the people that came out and supported us."

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bulldogs found themselves down to the Sailors, 3-2, before scoring eight runs on four hits to take a commanding 10-3 lead.

"We were not too worried about being down, because we knew that the hits would start to fall," said Hafey.

In the inning, Martin had an RBI double.

Estey, senior Josh Bower and senior Justin Hollingsworth all had RBI singles and senior Chris Weible added an RBI.

"We came out real slow and we came out with no energy," said St. Martin. "We finally picked it up in the fifth inning and we finally came around."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rugh added an insurance run with a solo shot over the left field fence to give the Bulldogs an 11-3 advantage.

In the top of the seventh inning, the Sailors ripped two singles off right-hander Mark Turner, a junior, to start the inning.

Turner then settled down by getting a double play and a groud out to end the game.

Turner was the third pitcher of the game for the Bulldogs. Hollingsworth started the game on the hill and pitched the first three innings, giving up three runs.

Estey threw the fourth and the fifth innings to earn the win and Turner pitched the final two to get the save.

"I wanted to come in and pick us up a win," said Estey. "I just wanted to come in and throw strikes, keeping the ball low in the strike zone, and it came out in our favor. We had some nice plays in the infield and it was just a good day for us."

"All three guys came in and did their job," said Hafey. "They shut them down and they only allowed three runs. They just did a good job."

The Bulldogs will return to the diamond at 4 p.m. Friday when they host the Delta Panthers in a doubleheader at Craig Middle School field.

"Delta is 2-0 in league play," said Hafey. "Each week gets more important, but these are probably the most important games coming up on Friday."