Colts Top Hollywood Lions 9-2 In Game One

Behind a solid pitching performance by Andrew Rohloff and hot bats, the Colts beat the Hollywood Lions 9-2 in Game One of their best-of-3 series of the HSBN Fall Classic.

Rohloff pitched four stellar innings, allowing only two hits and giving up two runs while striking out seven. He surrendered one run in the second and one in the third, the only two innings where he allowed more than one runner on base.

“When he throws strikes, he can get people out,” Colts manager Frank Bumbales said. “He’s going to be unhittable when he throws strikes and hits his spots.”

The Colts’ bats backed up their pitcher, scoring in all but one inning to give the Colts a leg up in the series. Leading the team offensively was left fielder Vinnie Cerullo, who got on base all four times he got up to the plate, going 3-for-3 with three singles and a walk. He accounted for four runs.

“I felt really relaxed out there, and I did what I had to do,” Cerullo said. “Get my team up early, and we soared the rest of the way. It felt good to come out on top tonight.”

Behind Cerullo, the rest of the offense got going. The Colts got timely hits as well as manufactured runs by sacrificing runners over and stealing key bases, putting runners in scoring position as the bats came alive.

“Those guys don’t hold back,” Bumbales said. “They come out swinging the bats, and they normally do that. They get on base and drive each other in and steal bases, and that’s basically the way we play the game.”

The highlight of the game for the Lions came on the defensive end in the third inning when second baseman Mike Drag went into the gap on a sharp grounder and managed to come up with the ball and get it to first to end the inning and hold the Colts to only a run in the inning.

The Lions were missing several of their key players because of a school-mandated function, but coach Mike Moss said there were a few positives to take out of this game.

“We had a lot of young kids out here today, and they got a chance to play in a good, quality game, so even though it was a bad result, it’s a good thing for the program,” Moss said. “The kids got a taste of it, and there were a couple freshman out there who had never played in this kind of game before, so that was a plus.”

The two teams return to the field tonight for Game Two of the series, and even though the Colts have a chance to advance to the next round, Bumbales said its just business as usual.

“We still have to go out with the same attitude and we have to try and win every ball game,” Bombalis said “We don’t want to take any chances.”

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