FPD defeats Stratford 6-0 in midweek region showdown behind Connor Strandmark’s solid pitching

The line score displayed on the scoreboard in the outfield was odd.

FPD had four hits, Stratford two. The Vikings committed three errors, one more than the Eagles.

A pair of threes listed under the third and fourth innings for FPD told a more accurate story. The Vikings took advantage of some mistakes and a strong pitching performance from Conner Strandmark to top Stratford 6-0 Tuesday in a GIAA District 6-3A/4A game at Bobby Hendley Field/Bubber Adams Baseball Complex.

“We didn’t do much offensively,” FPD head coach Greg Moore said after his team improved to 12-3. “I mean, smart enough to have good at-bats when they weren’t throwing strikes. But we weren’t 100% pleased with  barrels on the ball in the zone.”

The young Eagles — head coach Barry Veal has a team with two juniors and a dugout of freshmen and sophomores — raised some early eyebrows against Strandmark, a 6-foot-5 junior who has committed to Mercer.

The first three batters reached, on two singles and a walk.

“I just threw it around the strike zone,” Strandmark said. “It wasn’t off, close enough for the umpire to call it a strike. Just a little off.

Strandmark just needed a little time to get going.

“Once you get rolling, you just go,” he said. “Fastball was definitely working better, slider was a little bit off for this game.”

So after allowing three straight runners, he struck out three straight batters. And when Stratford (7-5) opened the second with a runner, courtesy of an error, he struck out two in a row.

Then he sat down six straight, the Eagles unable to make much contact.

“He got sharp in a hurry once they got men on base,” Moore said. “He took a deep breath and got himself together. They don’t need me to go out and tell him to calm down.”

FPD took a bit to get going on offense, too, stranding runners in the first two innings. Keon Johnson got a hit to open the third, the second knock of the night for the Vikings, and Brady McHugh walked before both of them stole a base.

A throw home on a grounder to short was high, and two runs came in, another scoring on Grant Martin’s double to left-center.

Three runs on one hit, a hit batter, a walk and an error.

Meanwhile, Strandmark found his groove and kept Stratford in check, retiring eight straight from the third to fifth innings.

“He’s been fantastic for us since he was a freshman,” Moore said. “And he’s just getting strong, still developing.”

The Eagles were close to keeping the deficit at three runs through the fourth inning, even after the Vikings opened the inning with two walks. Starter Hayden Camps got a strikeout, hit a batter and induced a popout.

But a dropped routine infield popup brought in two more runs, and Martin added another RBI with a single to right.

Reliever Cole Pruitt started slowing the FPD bats down a bit, and Strandmark’s night ended with two outs in the sixth with the Vikings firmly in control.

There were positives for Veal, although a young team still working to get stronger was going to have a tough night against Strandmark, who finished with 14 strikeouts and two walks on 111 pitches.

“He’s the best we’ve seen this year,” Veal said. “We got him on the ropes in the first inning. You got the bases loaded, nobody out, and even if you hit two ground balls or something, you score two runs.

“We don’t get any runs, and then all the momentum’s gone, and it’s back on their side. And in the third, they got three runs on one hit. It’s just part of us being so young.”

As is giving up six walks and hitting four batters.

“Against good pitchers, you only get so many chances,” Veal said. “We had a great chance in the first, and who knows if we score a couple in the first?”

The teams go at it again Thursday at FPD, and the Eagles won’t see Strandmark on the hill.

“We’ve got so many freshmen playing,” Veal said. “It’s tough to go up there and hit 93 miles an hour as a freshman.”