Falcons Use The Long Ball To Beat Bruins In Baseball Matchup

Nobody enjoyed Monday’s home run parade more than Angel Santiago-Cruz.

The senior ripped three-run homers in each of the first two innings, helping Severna Park plate nine runs and get into Broadneck’s bullpen before the second inning was even over. The Falcons held on from there to get back into the win column with a 10-2 victory over the visiting Bruins.

Calvin Cook opened the scoring with a solo home run off Severna Park ace Sean Williams in the top of the first, but Williams settled in right after that and breezed through the next three innings scoreless. But in the bottom of the first, Santiago-Cruz and the Falcon bats went to work.

After working a favorable count, the University of Richmond-bound shortstop smashed the first of his two homers to stake Severna Park to a 3-1 lead. An inning later, with two runs already in, he went after the first pitch he saw and doubled both his home run and RBI count on the day.

“First one, I knew he’d missed with a couple of breaking balls already, so he had to come to me with a fastball, and he wasn’t going to pitch me inside. I was looking for a fastball, and I got the barrel on it,” Santiago-Cruz said. “Our whole offense is starting to get hot now, and we’re starting to feel good.”

Santiago-Cruz’s second blast chased Broadneck starter Noah Forman, but Charlie Hartman greeted reliever Jack Miteff by depositing one over the right-field wall for the Falcons’ third home run of the game. That made it 9-1 in just the second inning, and the Falcons managed the game the rest of the way.

“That was the one thing we didn’t want to have happen, was for (Santiago-Cruz) to beat us, and he beat us twice,” said Broadneck coach Matt Skrenchuk, whose team lost for just the second time this season. “Baseball’s a game that’s going to humble you, and if it hasn’t humbled you lately it’s going to again soon. We got humbled, and now we move forward.”