Front Royal Cardinals

Cardinals score early and often

By Danny Nolan -- sports@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- Front Royal's Saxon Butler came into Tuesday night's Valley League contest with three home runs this season. He left First Bank Park with two more.

The Cardinals used a balanced offensive attack and good pitching to defeat Strasburg, 12-5, in a matchup of North Division rivals.

The Express struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Brad Zebedis hit a double with two outs, and later scored on a Chris Gosik double to give Strasburg a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals came right back in the second, in the fastest way possible. Butler swung at the first pitch he saw and knocked it over the left-field fence to tie the ballgame at 1-1.

Front Royal may have scored quickly, but the offense was far from done. Anthony Garrido hit a double and Mike Spano followed with a long single to bring him home, giving the Cardinals a one-run lead. Express starting pitcher Ben Verlander walked one batter and hit another, allowing Nash Hutter to drive in a run with a sacrifice fly before Michael Schmidt connected to bring home another runner.

Butler did not lead off the inning with a first-pitch home run in the third. Instead, he waited for multiple pitches before tattooing a ball that cleared the center-field fence by a minimum of 10 feet.

"I had been slumping here lately," Butler said. "But I've been working on shortening my swing and going opposite field because that's where I usually live at. I tried that tonight and I ended [up] having two of them go over the fence."

Butler's power sparked the offense again. With men on second and third, Hutter slapped a double into the outfield that scored two more runs and gave Front Royal a commanding 8-1 lead. Strasburg was able to turn a rare double play to get out of the inning. Ryan Hathaway made a catch in center field and was able to throw to third base before Hutter could get back.

Meanwhile, Cardinals starting pitcher Jonathan Armold shut down every offensive threat thrown his way. With a man on and Zebedis at the plate in the third, Armold was able to force a ground ball toward the shortstop to initiate a 6-4-3 double play.

The fifth inning brought the toughest test of the night for the right-hander, facing bases loaded with only one out. Armold, who gave up a run earlier in the inning, was able to field a soft grounder by Blake Crabtree and started a 1-2-3 double play to keep Front Royal on top, 8-2. Armold finished the night allowing four hits and two earned runs in six innings of work.

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The Cardinal

Baseball America's 2003 Almanac