Silo sweeps Kingston in district showdowns

Over the last several years the Kingston Redskins have virtually ruled the 3A baseball district slate, but in 2024, there may just be a new king on the block.

Perennial power Silo made the move to Class 3A this season for the first time and took an early step ahead in the race for the District 3A-8 title with a sweep of the Redskins in district play last week.

Silo posted a 6-1 win in the opener of the two-game series and then claimed the second contest as well by an 8-2 margin. The Rebels followed that up with a 10-1 thumping of Valliant later in the week to run their league record to 5-0 to sit squarely atop the district standings.

The Rebels are on their annual Spring Break trek to Florida this week but return home Tuesday for another district twinbill against Hugo.

In the first Kingston contest it was the Redskins that grabbed an early lead with a first inning run and held it until the third. Brock Rumer walked to start the frame and eventually came around to score on a Reid Patterson two-out double to left.

Starting hurler Brady Greene silenced the Rebel bats through two stanzas before running into trouble in the third when Silo erupted for three runs.

Colby Smith and Charlie Gardner each singled for the Rebels with both scoring after an infield bloop from Britton Salsbury and bunt single off the bat of Shawn Weaver.

Silo tacked on three more runs in the fifth for plenty of insurance fueled by hits from Smith, Gardner, Salsbury and Weaver.

Weaver posted three hits to lead the offensive charge as Zane Sander, Smith, Gardner and Salsbury all chipped in two.

In the following matchup with it was the Rebels that snagged the early edge which they never relinquished.

The Rebels capitalized on opening singles from Sander and Smith and then virtually put the game out of reach with four tallies in the third stanza. An error added to the big inning as Gardner, Salsbury and Weaver each contributed a single.

Kingston answered a pair of Silo runs in the sixth with two of it’s own, cashing in four walks and a Rumer single. Reliever Sam Mendenall however came out of the bullpen and slammed the door on the Redskin hopes by hurling one and two-third strong frames, adding a pair of strikeouts.

Jeret House and Sander each racked up two hits with House driving in three runs. Smith, Gardner, Salsbury, Weaver and Landon Langley each chipped in one.

Langley also recorded the pitching triumph with five scoreless frames of one-hit ball in the mound start.

Silo wasted little time in building a commanding lead against Valliant, pushing across two runs in the second inning, six in the third and two more in the fourth.

The Rebels made the most of seven hits, taking advantage of seven free passes and a pair of Valliant errors.

Salsbury had two of the hits and drove in a pair with Sander and Weaver contributing doubles and an RBI apiece. House, Gardner and Langley all had one hit.

That was plenty of offensive support for starting hurler Gabe Hernandez, who fired four innings, yielding one run on one hit with four strikeouts. Mendenall worked the final three stanzas, scattering three hits with four strikeouts and no runs allowed.