Mead Sandercock was in control of his first at-bat Monday night right from the get-go. The Hornets’ third baseman went up in the count 2-0, then settled in and looked fastball.

Sandercock got his wish in the form of a belt-high heater from North Pocono starter Corey Salimido. Mead jumped on the pitch, crushing it over the fence in left center for a lead-off homerun.

Salimido recovered just long enough to retire Matt Gravel on a groundout, but then suffered a second rubber-necking. This time, it was catcher Joel Watson who did the damage. Honesdale’s senior co-captain crushed his league-leading fourth homer of the year and the Hornets were off & running.

Sandercock and Watson’s homerun heroics were more than enough to seal the deal on an impressive 9-3 Red & Black victory.

“Every win is a good win,” Coach Mike Modrovsky told TWI Sports. “Even though North Pocono doesn’t have the best record in the world, they’re a pretty good team. I think maybe we needed something to fire us up and Joel Watson gave it to us. Hopefully, we can carry some of this momentum into the next couple of games.”

Honesdale hits the road for a game at Scranton High School this afternoon. Then, the Hornets return to the Maple City to close out their regular season schedule with consecutive home games against Abington Heights (Friday) and Delaware Valley (Monday).

Bang-Bang Play
Watson gave Honesdale a lift both at the plate and behind it. Not only did Joel blast a Big Fly in the first inning, but he also provided the Hornets a big emotional boost in the fifth.

North Pocono had rallied to take a 3-2 lead against Red & Black starter Bobby Kinsman. With two down and the Trojans still threatening, Alex Hicks blasted a double to left center. Wade Rickard ran the ball down and relayed it to Jake Schilling.

Honesdale’s sophomore second sacker turned and spied Kenny Aston trying to score. Schilling fired a strike to the plate. Aston was out by a mile, but lowered his shoulder and tried to run Watson over. The resulting collision sent both players flying, but Joel held onto the ball for the out.

The Hornets seemed to feed off that emotional play and responded with a seven-run eruption in the home half of the frame.

Mead Sandercock, Matt Gravel, Wilson Davis and Wade Rickard each came through with a clutch hit in the inning.

Kinsman then combined with Scotty Shaffer to close out the ballgame. Bobby worked six innings to pick up the win. He allowed three earned runs, struck out six and walked one. Scotty pitched a perfect seventh with a pair of Ks.

Score by Innings...
NP     0  0  0  1  2  0  0 - 3
HON  2  0  0  0  7  0  x - 9