Baseball: Kevin Serio, Plano start fast with the bats, beat Sandwich in five innings

SANDWICH – Kevin Serio missed out on his first chance to play Sandwich this spring.

Serio, a Plano senior, is a two-way starter in football. The Reapers’ football game with the Indians in April was canceled because of a Plano COVID-19 quarantine.

He made the most of his opportunity on the baseball diamond Friday.

Serio singled, doubled and drove in three runs, and Plano’s bats broke out in a big way to back Sean Earwood’s strong start for a 13-0, five-inning win in Sandwich.

“Oh yeah, I couldn’t wait to play today,” Serio said. “Sadly we couldn’t play them football season. It would have been a good game. We came out today and had a good game.”

Serio’s bad-hop single scored Mason Accidentale and Alex Velazquez in Plano’s six-run first inning. In the second inning, Serio slugged a booming double over the Sandwich left fielder to make it 8-0.

“It was right in the sweet spot, right where I wanted it,” Serio said. “We came out today, put the bat on the ball, started really strong and put a lot of runs on the board. We were ready to play today.”

Indeed, the Reapers (8-5, 2-3 Interstate Eight Conference) sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning, with six straight reaching at one point. Velazquez singled in Manny Marin, Serio’s two-run single made it 3-0, Eric Perez tacked on an RBI single and Christian Sloat’s two-run single made it 6-0.

Marin was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, and Accidentale was 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

That was a welcome sight to Plano coach Nate Hill, whose team managed just two hits Wednesday in a 3-1 win over Sandwich.

“Great start, definitely what we wanted to do,” Hill said. “It felt like we had a lot more hits the other night. We had early BP before the short ride over here, and it paid off today. Great to come out swinging and get the bats going.”

Serio, getting time over all over the diamond this season, started behind the plate Friday, and ended the day with a robust .364 average. He’s committed to play football at Carroll, but said he might try to catch on with the baseball team, too.

“He’s been in the lineup pretty much every day. Left, right, caught a couple games,” Hill said. “We’ve kind of put him everywhere and tried to get that bat going after a long football season.”

The final score didn’t indicate it, but Sandwich (1-6, 0-6) competed well after a tough first inning. On a windy day, a few balls took tricky bounces, one skipping off a dandelion in the infield grass into the outfield.

“We had a few things happen in the first inning, a bad hop went off [pitcher] Chance [Lange’s] glove that probably could have been a double play, possibility of a different ballgame in that first inning,” Sandwich coach Jason VanPelt said. “Their pitcher did a good job throwing strikes and didn’t allow us to get on base with walks. This is a young team out there.”

Indeed, the Indians played a freshman, Lange, and four sophomores Friday, with two seniors who have not played in a few years.

Lange showcased a good glove at shortstop, and had a double at the plate, one of three Sandwich hits. Everett Ford held his own after coming on in relief in the third. Sandwich was coming off its first win, 11-6 over Crossroads Christian Thursday.

“Our guys are young and inexperienced, still learning how to hit varsity pitching,” VanPelt said. “We haven’t had time to practice, we were out two weeks in quarantine, this is where we’re at. We’ve been playing well, didn’t play too bad today but Plano got timely hits and their pitcher did a good job holding us down.”

Earwood (2-1) did that, allowing just three hits, a walk and a hit batsmen over five efficient innings, striking out four.

“Great to get that start from Sean,” Hill said. “He’s coming back from a little bicep injury and we’re trying to ease him back in. Definitely his best and longest outing of the season. Hopefully we build that momentum for the last half of the season.”