By Phil Friend
CNHI
FRANKFORT —
Blake Ayers got himself reacquainted with the baseball field on Thursday.
After sitting out the first four games and tallying one hit Tuesday, the Frankfort senior had his breakthrough game - 3-for-3 at the plate, three runs, a double, a home run over the right-field fence and five RBIs as the Hot Dogs cruised past Danville, 15-1.
It was a revenge game of sorts after Frankfort (5-1, 1-1 SAC) lost to the Warriors, 2-1 on Tuesday.
"I'm not really a power hitter at all, itÕs just that pitch that everyone has," Ayers said. "It was inside for me and I got my hands through. I didn't think it was going out."
It was Ayers' second career home run and the first of the season.
Ayers had plenty of help in the lineup. John Varner had a pair of doubles, three runs scored and a RBI while Alex Isgrigg tallied two hits of his own. Jordan Ham, Dustin Rutledge, Dylan Henady and Kent Smith all had a hit apiece.
Frankfort broke the game open with a 10-run third inning, sending 13 batters to the plate as the Hot Dogs scored in a variety of ways.
Ayers started the rally with an RBI bunt-single to score Varner and Henady scored from first on the play when the Danville third baseman sent his throw well off the mark and toward right field to give Frankfort a 7-1 lead.
After a Juan Guillen sacrifice fly scored Ayers, Ham delivered a two-run double to plate Smith and Isgrigg. The hit parade continued as Varner smacked a RBI double to score Ham for an 11-1 lead. And just as he started the inning, Ayers capped off scoring with a 2-run homer and a 15-1 lead.
"Tuesday was one of those days you have in baseball," Frankfort coach Andy Dudley said. "We came out (Thursday), guys got refocused and ready to go. Our bats woke up and still did little things right."
For Danville, coach Rick Foster said his team - which only managed three hits - just wasn't mentally prepared for the game.
"I thought it started (Wednesday) in practice," he said. "We didn't have a good mental approach. The mental part isn't there yet. If you're not mentally tough when things go south on you and if you don't have some success on the way, you don't know how to fight through that."
Zach Rohn doubled to start the game and D.J Eckert singled him home to produce the Warriors' only run in the first inning. Mark Atkinson got the Warriors' other hit in the fifth.
Jacob Butterfield took the loss for Danville (1-5, 1-1 SAC), allowing seven runs on five hits while striking out zero in two-plus innings. His replacement, Lucas Jeffries, didn't fare much better - allowing eight runs on seven hits in two thirds of an inning.
Zerfas (3-0) allowed three hits and struck out seven.
