Story from last night's Waterford at Federal Hocking game. Federal Hocking won 10-1 to clinch at least a share of the TVC-Hocking Division this year. Tonight I get to cover the Duquesne at Ohio baseball game. It's going to be cold, but most likely my last chance to speak to Joe Carbone and the boys as an undergrad.
Lancers clinch share of TVC-Hocking
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to the Messenger
STEWART - Last season the Federal Hocking baseball team ended the season one game shy of the Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division title, but this year the team will share at least a piece of the championship.
The Lancers (15-4, 8-0) defeated the Waterford Wildcats (3-11, 1-6) on Monday night by a score of 10-1 to secure at least a share of the title and remain undefeated in conference play.
After the game Federal Hocking coach Rocky Brunty said he plans to take this year's title outright.
"We can't lose it now," Brunty said. "We can tie. We're certainly not planning on doing that. We want to win out of course."
A nine-run sixth inning propelled the Lancers to victory to separate a 1-1 tie. During the sixth inning 13 Lancer batters came to the plate as Waterford threw three different pitchers.
Federal Hocking had just three hits during the rally, but benefited from three walks, two hit batters, and two errors as well. Lancer Cory McCune had two hits in the inning including a three-run triple that gave his team a 9-1 lead. McCune ended the day 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored.
Brunty, who gave a few of his regular position players the night off, said McCune has been one of his most consistent hitters.
"He's hit the ball real hard," Brunty said. "He's been doing that all year. He's up above .500."
Wildcat coach Jeremy Crock removed starter Aaron Greene during the sixth inning after Greene surrendered a single and back-to-back hit batters with one out.
Greene allowed just one run over his previous five innings, but once Crock noticed his starter begin to struggle he removed him.
"(Greene) just wore down," Crock said. "It's getting to that time in the season where arms are getting tired."
Federal Hocking run-ruled Waterford in the teams' previous match-up. While Waterford may have lost an opportunity to knock off the conference's best team, Crock said he was proud of how his team battled for six innings against Federal Hocking.
"They showed tonight again, they have showed many spurts where they can play ball hard," Crock said, "and play with any team that they want to. They just have to keep that in their head and do their job the rest of the season."
On the mound for the Lancers, pitcher Tyler Thompson relieved Lance Sharp in the fifth inning and earned the win.
Although Brunty said Sharp admitted to his coach he did not have his best stuff, Sharp managed to limit Waterford to a single unearned run in the first inning.
"(Sharp) told me when I went out and talked to him that his ball was dead and he couldn't keep it down, he didn't have anything," Brunty said. "We didn't want to throw Thompson unless we felt we got to the point where we didn't really have a whole lot of choice."
Thompson pitched the final 2 2-3 innings and did not allow a hit; he also struck out five.
Federal Hocking will be back in action on Thursday when the Lancers visit the Trimble Tomcats in search of an outright title.
Waterford 100 000 0 - 1 6 2
Federal Hocking 001 009 X - 10 7 2
Start: 5:20 p.m. End 7:23 p.m.
W (3-11, 1-6): pitchers Aaron Greene, Matt McCutcheon (6), Casey Branham (6), catcher Dennis Jones
FH (15-4, 8-0): pitchers Lance Sharp, Tyler Thompson (5), catcher Dewayne Clark
WP: Thompson LP: Greene
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Ohio Spring Game
White squad defeats Green, 20-14, in OU spring game
By NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The News
ATHENS, Ohio — The annual Ohio football team’s Green and White spring game seems to raise the same question year after year and Saturday afternoon’s game continued the trend: Who will be next season’s starting quarterback?
Quarterbacks Boo Jackson, Brandon Jones and Theo Scott each saw considerable playing time, but no one separated himself from the pack as the White squad triumphed 20-14.
Coach Frank Solich said it is still early and he is not concerned there is no defined starter yet.
“When you look at the quarterback play, I think that the talent is there,” Solich said. “Obviously we have to get consistent and in getting consistent I think we can put on the field a pretty good offensive football team.”
Scott began the game’s first drive for the Green team, but threw an interception to safety Donovan Fletcher on his first pass attempt. On the very next drive Fletcher once again intercepted Scott for a 21-yard return.
While Fletcher was being interviewed on the field after the game Scott interrupted to jokingly laud Fletcher’s accomplishments.
“He did a good job,” Scott said. “He’s a ballplayer. This guy is good.”
Along with his two interceptions, Fletcher led all players with seven tackles.
Later, Scott said he knew what caused his interceptions.
“I just tried to do something different and different didn’t work,” Scott said. “Y’all seen it. I just went back to my normal game, played the game, and just relaxed.”
Despite the two picks, Scott recovered to end the day on 7-of-12 passing for 102 yards for the Green team.
Scott’s teammate Jackson threw for the most yards of all Bobcat quarterbacks on the day by completing 16-of-20 passes for 190 yards. Jackson, a junior-college transfer from El Camino College (Calif.), has had just four weeks to study Ohio’s offensive system to prepare for the spring game.
Jackson admitted he struggled at first, but said he is becoming more comfortable with Ohio’s set.
“The first week I was here I was bobbling snaps,” Jackson said. “I looked like a freshman coming out of high school, but then as the weeks progressed I caught on real quick.”
Solich also acknowledged Jackson’s progress.
“(Boo’s) done an excellent job of picking up the system,” Solich said. “He’s been able to pick it up. I feel good about what Boo has accomplished in a very short period of time.”
While Jackson may be trying to unseat Scott, Jackson said they are good friends and Scott has shared his football knowledge with the newcomer.
“He’s teaching me a lot of things,” Jackson said. “I sit back and watch what he does and learn from him because he’s ahead of me right now and I just have to learn from what he’s doing.”
Jones, not to be ignored in the quarterback search process, completed 7-of-11 passes for 82 yards and one touchdown.
On the rushing half of the offense running back Chris Garrett paced both squads with 79 yards on 14 carries including a 1-yard touchdown run for Green.
Ohio now awaits its fall camp and will play its first game of the season on Aug. 30 at Wyoming
By NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The News
ATHENS, Ohio — The annual Ohio football team’s Green and White spring game seems to raise the same question year after year and Saturday afternoon’s game continued the trend: Who will be next season’s starting quarterback?
Quarterbacks Boo Jackson, Brandon Jones and Theo Scott each saw considerable playing time, but no one separated himself from the pack as the White squad triumphed 20-14.
Coach Frank Solich said it is still early and he is not concerned there is no defined starter yet.
“When you look at the quarterback play, I think that the talent is there,” Solich said. “Obviously we have to get consistent and in getting consistent I think we can put on the field a pretty good offensive football team.”
Scott began the game’s first drive for the Green team, but threw an interception to safety Donovan Fletcher on his first pass attempt. On the very next drive Fletcher once again intercepted Scott for a 21-yard return.
While Fletcher was being interviewed on the field after the game Scott interrupted to jokingly laud Fletcher’s accomplishments.
“He did a good job,” Scott said. “He’s a ballplayer. This guy is good.”
Along with his two interceptions, Fletcher led all players with seven tackles.
Later, Scott said he knew what caused his interceptions.
“I just tried to do something different and different didn’t work,” Scott said. “Y’all seen it. I just went back to my normal game, played the game, and just relaxed.”
Despite the two picks, Scott recovered to end the day on 7-of-12 passing for 102 yards for the Green team.
Scott’s teammate Jackson threw for the most yards of all Bobcat quarterbacks on the day by completing 16-of-20 passes for 190 yards. Jackson, a junior-college transfer from El Camino College (Calif.), has had just four weeks to study Ohio’s offensive system to prepare for the spring game.
Jackson admitted he struggled at first, but said he is becoming more comfortable with Ohio’s set.
“The first week I was here I was bobbling snaps,” Jackson said. “I looked like a freshman coming out of high school, but then as the weeks progressed I caught on real quick.”
Solich also acknowledged Jackson’s progress.
“(Boo’s) done an excellent job of picking up the system,” Solich said. “He’s been able to pick it up. I feel good about what Boo has accomplished in a very short period of time.”
While Jackson may be trying to unseat Scott, Jackson said they are good friends and Scott has shared his football knowledge with the newcomer.
“He’s teaching me a lot of things,” Jackson said. “I sit back and watch what he does and learn from him because he’s ahead of me right now and I just have to learn from what he’s doing.”
Jones, not to be ignored in the quarterback search process, completed 7-of-11 passes for 82 yards and one touchdown.
On the rushing half of the offense running back Chris Garrett paced both squads with 79 yards on 14 carries including a 1-yard touchdown run for Green.
Ohio now awaits its fall camp and will play its first game of the season on Aug. 30 at Wyoming
Friday, April 25, 2008
Southern at Trimble
Here's my article for The Athens Messenger from the game I covered last night. That's all for now. Too tired to type because I just got back from Coldstone.
Big inning dooms Trimble
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
GLOUSTER - Tomcat pitcher Taylor Russell tossed a complete game, but his endurance was not enough to overcome the Southern Tornadoes as Trimble lost 13-6 in Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division play on Thursday night.
Russell pitched a full seven innings and walked just three batters, but he and the Tomcats surrendered nine runs in a decisive fourth inning.
"That's been our case here lately, giving them a big inning," Trimble coach Phil Faires said. "You give a good team extra outs and they're going to beat you."
Trimble scored in each of its four at-bats and led 5-1 through three complete innings. Although Trimble managed to score in a majority of its at-bats Tomcat hitters left a total of nine base runners on the paths, which prevented any major rallies.
While Trimble left runners on, Southern executed in the fourth inning, which proved to be the difference. The Tornadoes' first five batters recorded a hit as the team sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning. Of the nine base hits during the inning, five were extra-base hits.
Southern coach Ryan Lemley said he stressed to his players they needed to wait for the right pitch.
"We had talked about being patient at the plate," Lemley said. "Taylor Russell did a good job of mixing up the fastball, change, and curve...We went out and finally made it work. That was really the only inning that we got to him. Other than that he threw well."
The Tomcats added a single run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but could not muster any more.
Tornado No. 1 pitcher Ryan Chapman, who previously no-hit the Tomcats this season, entered in the sixth inning to shut down any further rallies. Down 11-6 in the sixth inning, however, Trimble appeared poised to put together a comeback.
With runners on first and second and just one out catcher Josh McCoy stepped to the plate. McCoy slapped the ball solidly toward the middle, but it was gathered in by the Southern shortstop to begin a 6-4-3, inning-ending double play.
"McCoy came up and got good metal on it and hit a nice shot," Faires said. "They just made the play. That could have very easily been another foot or two to the right or left and that's a base hit."
Southern added two more runs in the seventh inning while Chapman struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning to close out the game. In addition to closing out the game Chapman went 4-for-5 with three doubles.
Offensively for Trimble, Russell, the team's leadoff hitter, went 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored. Charles Kish and William Strong each finished with multi-hit performances.
Faires said despite the loss he has seen improvements and is optimistic as his team gets closer to post-season play.
"We've been hitting the ball here a lot better lately," he said. "You take away the big inning and we're right in it.....We're looking to get better each inning and get ready for the tournament."
Southern 001 901 2 - 13 17 2
Trimble 221 100 0 - 6 9 3
Start: 5:23 End: 7:48
S (9-4, 4-3): pitchers Butch Marnhout, Michael Manuel (2), Jordan Taylor (4), Ryan Chapman (5), catcher Greg Jenkins
T (3-11, 2-5): pitcher Taylor Russell, catcher Josh McCoy
WP: Taylor LP: Russell
Big inning dooms Trimble
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
GLOUSTER - Tomcat pitcher Taylor Russell tossed a complete game, but his endurance was not enough to overcome the Southern Tornadoes as Trimble lost 13-6 in Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division play on Thursday night.
Russell pitched a full seven innings and walked just three batters, but he and the Tomcats surrendered nine runs in a decisive fourth inning.
"That's been our case here lately, giving them a big inning," Trimble coach Phil Faires said. "You give a good team extra outs and they're going to beat you."
Trimble scored in each of its four at-bats and led 5-1 through three complete innings. Although Trimble managed to score in a majority of its at-bats Tomcat hitters left a total of nine base runners on the paths, which prevented any major rallies.
While Trimble left runners on, Southern executed in the fourth inning, which proved to be the difference. The Tornadoes' first five batters recorded a hit as the team sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning. Of the nine base hits during the inning, five were extra-base hits.
Southern coach Ryan Lemley said he stressed to his players they needed to wait for the right pitch.
"We had talked about being patient at the plate," Lemley said. "Taylor Russell did a good job of mixing up the fastball, change, and curve...We went out and finally made it work. That was really the only inning that we got to him. Other than that he threw well."
The Tomcats added a single run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but could not muster any more.
Tornado No. 1 pitcher Ryan Chapman, who previously no-hit the Tomcats this season, entered in the sixth inning to shut down any further rallies. Down 11-6 in the sixth inning, however, Trimble appeared poised to put together a comeback.
With runners on first and second and just one out catcher Josh McCoy stepped to the plate. McCoy slapped the ball solidly toward the middle, but it was gathered in by the Southern shortstop to begin a 6-4-3, inning-ending double play.
"McCoy came up and got good metal on it and hit a nice shot," Faires said. "They just made the play. That could have very easily been another foot or two to the right or left and that's a base hit."
Southern added two more runs in the seventh inning while Chapman struck out the side in the bottom half of the inning to close out the game. In addition to closing out the game Chapman went 4-for-5 with three doubles.
Offensively for Trimble, Russell, the team's leadoff hitter, went 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored. Charles Kish and William Strong each finished with multi-hit performances.
Faires said despite the loss he has seen improvements and is optimistic as his team gets closer to post-season play.
"We've been hitting the ball here a lot better lately," he said. "You take away the big inning and we're right in it.....We're looking to get better each inning and get ready for the tournament."
Southern 001 901 2 - 13 17 2
Trimble 221 100 0 - 6 9 3
Start: 5:23 End: 7:48
S (9-4, 4-3): pitchers Butch Marnhout, Michael Manuel (2), Jordan Taylor (4), Ryan Chapman (5), catcher Greg Jenkins
T (3-11, 2-5): pitcher Taylor Russell, catcher Josh McCoy
WP: Taylor LP: Russell
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Nelsonville-York at Alexander
Here's my article for last night's Nelsonville-York at Alexander game. After winning the TVC last year Alexander has had a pretty bad season defending their title. Alexander won its first game of the season and I covered that game and including last night's loss they have lost seven games in a row. Anyway, here is the game recap. My next game is Thursday and it's Southern at Trimble.
Big inning leads Buckeyes past Spartans, 16-8
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
ALBANY - The Nelsonville-York Buckeye baseball team continued to improve upon last season's record by defeating the Alexander Spartans 16-8 on Monday night in a Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division game.
The Buckeyes scored 10 runs in a decisive fourth inning to complete a season-sweep of the Spartans and earn the team's second conference win of the year."
It's been awhile since we've been able to sweep Alexander in a season," Nelsonville-York coach Rocky Smathers said.
Nelsonville-York defeated Alexander 6-5 on April 8, but quickly got ahead 5-0 on the Spartans in Monday night's game. Alexander, however, rebounded with six runs in the second and third inning to go ahead 6-5.
"We lost our concentration in the field a bit for a while, but then we recovered," Smathers said. "We played pretty well after that."
Right after Alexander scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning, Nelsonville-York responded with 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning. During the fourth inning 13 Buckeye batters stepped to the plate. Besides six hits, the Buckeyes took advantage of three errors and two walks in the inning.
Alexander coach Vaughn Grigsby said it is easy to point out his team's demise.
"It started on errors in the fourth (inning)," Grigsby said. "It started with a throw and it just snowballed then from there and we just had errors and errors and some runs."
Errors certainly cost the Spartans a victory, but eight Buckeye hitters contributed with hits to further the cause. Third baseman Kolton Thomas led the way offensively with a 4-for-5 day including four RBIs.
"Everybody is starting to come through and doing a good job," Smathers said. "Right now I think we're doing a lot of things well. They've been a lot more aggressive than anything."
After Nelsonville-York's big inning, Alexander scored once in bottom half of the fourth inning, and both teams added a single tally in the seventh inning for the ultimate 16-8 outcome.
Grigsby said despite suffering a tough loss there were some positives in the way his team played.
"I thought we hit the ball well," he said. "I thought Wes (Bolin) did throw the ball real well. He came in and did a real good job, but you have to play defense behind him. Unfortunately, we've had that one big inning all year where we haven't played defense."
While Alexander may be experiencing a down year, Grigsby also said he is pleased to see a team like Nelsonville-York improving.
"Hopefully they can continue to knock some people off," Grigsby said. "It's nice to see teams that have been down the past few years win some baseball games and unfortunately they're beating us."
Nels.-York 410 (10)00 1 - 16 12 3
Alexander 015 100 1 - 8 7 5
Start: 5:06 End: 7:43
NY (3-5, 2-3): pitchers Randy Walker, Nick Hunter (7) and catcher Connor Bunting
A (1-7, 1-5): pitchers Josh Moritz, Wes Bolin (2), Tyler Gillette (4), and catcher Michael Chapman
WP: Walker LP: Bolin
Big inning leads Buckeyes past Spartans, 16-8
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
ALBANY - The Nelsonville-York Buckeye baseball team continued to improve upon last season's record by defeating the Alexander Spartans 16-8 on Monday night in a Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division game.
The Buckeyes scored 10 runs in a decisive fourth inning to complete a season-sweep of the Spartans and earn the team's second conference win of the year."
It's been awhile since we've been able to sweep Alexander in a season," Nelsonville-York coach Rocky Smathers said.
Nelsonville-York defeated Alexander 6-5 on April 8, but quickly got ahead 5-0 on the Spartans in Monday night's game. Alexander, however, rebounded with six runs in the second and third inning to go ahead 6-5.
"We lost our concentration in the field a bit for a while, but then we recovered," Smathers said. "We played pretty well after that."
Right after Alexander scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning, Nelsonville-York responded with 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning. During the fourth inning 13 Buckeye batters stepped to the plate. Besides six hits, the Buckeyes took advantage of three errors and two walks in the inning.
Alexander coach Vaughn Grigsby said it is easy to point out his team's demise.
"It started on errors in the fourth (inning)," Grigsby said. "It started with a throw and it just snowballed then from there and we just had errors and errors and some runs."
Errors certainly cost the Spartans a victory, but eight Buckeye hitters contributed with hits to further the cause. Third baseman Kolton Thomas led the way offensively with a 4-for-5 day including four RBIs.
"Everybody is starting to come through and doing a good job," Smathers said. "Right now I think we're doing a lot of things well. They've been a lot more aggressive than anything."
After Nelsonville-York's big inning, Alexander scored once in bottom half of the fourth inning, and both teams added a single tally in the seventh inning for the ultimate 16-8 outcome.
Grigsby said despite suffering a tough loss there were some positives in the way his team played.
"I thought we hit the ball well," he said. "I thought Wes (Bolin) did throw the ball real well. He came in and did a real good job, but you have to play defense behind him. Unfortunately, we've had that one big inning all year where we haven't played defense."
While Alexander may be experiencing a down year, Grigsby also said he is pleased to see a team like Nelsonville-York improving.
"Hopefully they can continue to knock some people off," Grigsby said. "It's nice to see teams that have been down the past few years win some baseball games and unfortunately they're beating us."
Nels.-York 410 (10)00 1 - 16 12 3
Alexander 015 100 1 - 8 7 5
Start: 5:06 End: 7:43
NY (3-5, 2-3): pitchers Randy Walker, Nick Hunter (7) and catcher Connor Bunting
A (1-7, 1-5): pitchers Josh Moritz, Wes Bolin (2), Tyler Gillette (4), and catcher Michael Chapman
WP: Walker LP: Bolin
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Belpre at Fed Hock (Parkersburg style)
I decided to just put up my own copy of the Belpr-Fed Hock game I did the other day for Parkersurg. They never put my stories on the web so here it is, there may be some mistakes since I was the only one to edit it.
Special to The News
By Nick Brockman
STEWART, Ohio — The Belpre Golden Eagles baseball team may have ended the season for the Federal Hocking Lancers the past two years in postseason play, but Belpre could not reenact the past on Tuesday night.
Belpre entered with a chance to give Federal Hocking its first loss of the year in Tri-Valley Conference play, but instead left with a 12-7 loss.
Although the game’s first three innings seemed to favor the Golden Eagles, Belpre pitching’s 11 walks finally caught up with the team.
“I think you have to get a wider strike zone than what we had tonight,” Belpre coach Terry Mullen said. “Both teams were squeezed, they just managed to score more runs than we did.”
Federal Hocking coach Rocky Brunty also said it was difficult to adjust to the strike zone.
“I thought it was a game that left a lot to be desired as far as balls and strikes,” Brunty said. “I thought (Lancer starter Jared Gandee) threw a lot of nice pitches that we didn’t get. They threw a lot of nice pitches that they didn’t get.”
The Golden Eagles escaped a jam in the first inning after loading the bases on three straight walks. After the second walk of the inning Mullen removed starter Sean Haverty in favor of reliever Mike Waderker. Waderker walked the first batter he saw, but retired the next three and Belpre allowed just one run.
Mullen said Haverty started because the team’s pitching has been overworked this week and he went with Wederker to prevent a big inning.
“With this team and the way they hit, I didn’t want to get down early,” Mullen said. “Mike came in and shut the door.”
Belpre gained its only lead of the game when the team scored two runs in the top of the third inning. With one out Haverty and Clay Ullman managed back-to-back walks. R.J. Walker moved both runners over on a sacrifice bunt and Mark Tate provided the two-run single to left field to go ahead 2-1.
Federal Hocking responded, however, in its next two at-bats with eight more runs, including seven runs in the fourth inning.
The bottom half of the Belpre batting lineup got it going again in the fifth inning with the Golden Eagles down 9-2. No. 7 hitter Jared Azar reached on a single followed by two straight walks. Walker, the leadoff hitter, then hit an infield single that scored Azar. Belpre scored two more runs on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly, but the middle of the order failed to do more damage.
Belpre’s No. 6-9 also reached consecutively in the sixth inning as the team scored two runs and cut the deficit to 11-7. The rally fizzled again, however, when it reached the top of the lineup.
“That’s where we have been in crucial situations,” Mullen said. “Right now our three, four, five, and six hitters are not hitting the baseball. If they do, they are not hitting it hard.”
The Lancers added a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 12-7. Belpre managed just one base runner in a seventh inning comeback attempt.
After the game, Mullen said it’s important not to let one loss define the season.
“It’s a long season,” Mullen said. “It could be better, it could be worse…You just got to keep at it.”
B 002 032 0 7 6 1
FH 101 721 X 12 7 0
B (4-4, 2-2): pitchers Sean Haverty, Mike Waderker (1), Tyler Watkins (4), and R.J. Walker (6), catcher Mark Tate
FH (5-2, 3-0): pitchers Jared Gandee, Tyler Thompson, and Zach Burke, catcher Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 7:30
WP: Gandee LP: Waderker
Special to The News
By Nick Brockman
STEWART, Ohio — The Belpre Golden Eagles baseball team may have ended the season for the Federal Hocking Lancers the past two years in postseason play, but Belpre could not reenact the past on Tuesday night.
Belpre entered with a chance to give Federal Hocking its first loss of the year in Tri-Valley Conference play, but instead left with a 12-7 loss.
Although the game’s first three innings seemed to favor the Golden Eagles, Belpre pitching’s 11 walks finally caught up with the team.
“I think you have to get a wider strike zone than what we had tonight,” Belpre coach Terry Mullen said. “Both teams were squeezed, they just managed to score more runs than we did.”
Federal Hocking coach Rocky Brunty also said it was difficult to adjust to the strike zone.
“I thought it was a game that left a lot to be desired as far as balls and strikes,” Brunty said. “I thought (Lancer starter Jared Gandee) threw a lot of nice pitches that we didn’t get. They threw a lot of nice pitches that they didn’t get.”
The Golden Eagles escaped a jam in the first inning after loading the bases on three straight walks. After the second walk of the inning Mullen removed starter Sean Haverty in favor of reliever Mike Waderker. Waderker walked the first batter he saw, but retired the next three and Belpre allowed just one run.
Mullen said Haverty started because the team’s pitching has been overworked this week and he went with Wederker to prevent a big inning.
“With this team and the way they hit, I didn’t want to get down early,” Mullen said. “Mike came in and shut the door.”
Belpre gained its only lead of the game when the team scored two runs in the top of the third inning. With one out Haverty and Clay Ullman managed back-to-back walks. R.J. Walker moved both runners over on a sacrifice bunt and Mark Tate provided the two-run single to left field to go ahead 2-1.
Federal Hocking responded, however, in its next two at-bats with eight more runs, including seven runs in the fourth inning.
The bottom half of the Belpre batting lineup got it going again in the fifth inning with the Golden Eagles down 9-2. No. 7 hitter Jared Azar reached on a single followed by two straight walks. Walker, the leadoff hitter, then hit an infield single that scored Azar. Belpre scored two more runs on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly, but the middle of the order failed to do more damage.
Belpre’s No. 6-9 also reached consecutively in the sixth inning as the team scored two runs and cut the deficit to 11-7. The rally fizzled again, however, when it reached the top of the lineup.
“That’s where we have been in crucial situations,” Mullen said. “Right now our three, four, five, and six hitters are not hitting the baseball. If they do, they are not hitting it hard.”
The Lancers added a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 12-7. Belpre managed just one base runner in a seventh inning comeback attempt.
After the game, Mullen said it’s important not to let one loss define the season.
“It’s a long season,” Mullen said. “It could be better, it could be worse…You just got to keep at it.”
B 002 032 0 7 6 1
FH 101 721 X 12 7 0
B (4-4, 2-2): pitchers Sean Haverty, Mike Waderker (1), Tyler Watkins (4), and R.J. Walker (6), catcher Mark Tate
FH (5-2, 3-0): pitchers Jared Gandee, Tyler Thompson, and Zach Burke, catcher Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 7:30
WP: Gandee LP: Waderker
Fort Frye at Federal Hocking
Here's my story from last night's game. My fourth story in four days.
Thompson solid in Lancers' 6-1 win
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
STEWART - It took just one night for coach Rocky Brunty's Federal Hocking Lancers to turn a sloppy win into a good-looking, all-around victory.
Federal Hocking played well in all phases of the game to defeat the Fort Frye Cadets 6-1 on Wednesday night.
Brunty, who said on Tuesday he was unhappy with the way his team won, said after Wednesday's game he was especially proud of pitcher Tyler Thompson and the defense.
"The kids played well today," Brunty said. "Overall, they played a nice game. Thompson threw another nice game, that's two in a row for him. The defense was solid behind and that's all you expect."
Runs were hard to come by for either team and Thompson did his job to ensure it was harder for the Cadets. Thompson allowed a single run in the first inning and shutdown the opposition the rest of the way.
Thompson finished the game with seven strikeouts and three hits, Brunty said it was Thompson's ability to let the defense work behind him that impressed him most.
"That's what a good pitcher does," Brunty said. "A good pitcher keeps them off-balance and throws strikes and let everybody else do their job."
Fort Frye head coach Sonny Bidwell, however, said the Cadets' demise came because they could not get lead runners on base.
"(Thompson) threw a nice game," Bidwell said. "We didn't have our best hitting night, but you have to get the first leadoff guys on in the inning and we didn't do that."
While Thompson and his Lancer defense did its job the Federal Hocking offense scored three runs in its first at-bat to move ahead 3-1. The first-inning runs proved to be the difference, but the Lancers added two more runs in the fifth inning and a single tally in the sixth inning.
Seven of the Lancers' nine batters recorded a hit during the game, but Federal Hocking's No. 3, 4, and 5 hitters (Cory McCune, Jared Gandee, and Thompson) provided the bulk of the damage. The three hitters combined to knock in four runs in the victory. With two singles, catcher Dewayne Clark also posted the only multi-hit and multi-run scored game for either team.
After the game Brunty said it was a great team win, but he hopes it can help his players understand that although it's a non-league game it could have big effects.
"They were 6-1 coming in, a nice team," Brunty said. "Definitely, it was a big win for us. It was an important win. It gives these guys a little more confidence and realize they can play with the top teams in the area."
FF 100 000 0 - 1 3 1
FH 300 021 X - 6 8 1
FF (6-2): pitchers Josiah Fryman, Chad Stengel (2), Jacob Anderson (5), catcher Mason Lang
FH (6-2): pitcher Tyler Thompson, catcher Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 6:45
WP: Thompson LP: Fryman
Thompson solid in Lancers' 6-1 win
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
STEWART - It took just one night for coach Rocky Brunty's Federal Hocking Lancers to turn a sloppy win into a good-looking, all-around victory.
Federal Hocking played well in all phases of the game to defeat the Fort Frye Cadets 6-1 on Wednesday night.
Brunty, who said on Tuesday he was unhappy with the way his team won, said after Wednesday's game he was especially proud of pitcher Tyler Thompson and the defense.
"The kids played well today," Brunty said. "Overall, they played a nice game. Thompson threw another nice game, that's two in a row for him. The defense was solid behind and that's all you expect."
Runs were hard to come by for either team and Thompson did his job to ensure it was harder for the Cadets. Thompson allowed a single run in the first inning and shutdown the opposition the rest of the way.
Thompson finished the game with seven strikeouts and three hits, Brunty said it was Thompson's ability to let the defense work behind him that impressed him most.
"That's what a good pitcher does," Brunty said. "A good pitcher keeps them off-balance and throws strikes and let everybody else do their job."
Fort Frye head coach Sonny Bidwell, however, said the Cadets' demise came because they could not get lead runners on base.
"(Thompson) threw a nice game," Bidwell said. "We didn't have our best hitting night, but you have to get the first leadoff guys on in the inning and we didn't do that."
While Thompson and his Lancer defense did its job the Federal Hocking offense scored three runs in its first at-bat to move ahead 3-1. The first-inning runs proved to be the difference, but the Lancers added two more runs in the fifth inning and a single tally in the sixth inning.
Seven of the Lancers' nine batters recorded a hit during the game, but Federal Hocking's No. 3, 4, and 5 hitters (Cory McCune, Jared Gandee, and Thompson) provided the bulk of the damage. The three hitters combined to knock in four runs in the victory. With two singles, catcher Dewayne Clark also posted the only multi-hit and multi-run scored game for either team.
After the game Brunty said it was a great team win, but he hopes it can help his players understand that although it's a non-league game it could have big effects.
"They were 6-1 coming in, a nice team," Brunty said. "Definitely, it was a big win for us. It was an important win. It gives these guys a little more confidence and realize they can play with the top teams in the area."
FF 100 000 0 - 1 3 1
FH 300 021 X - 6 8 1
FF (6-2): pitchers Josiah Fryman, Chad Stengel (2), Jacob Anderson (5), catcher Mason Lang
FH (6-2): pitcher Tyler Thompson, catcher Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 6:45
WP: Thompson LP: Fryman
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Belpre at Federal Hocking
Here's my story of the Belpre at Federal Hocking baseball game from last night. I also did a version for the Parkersburg News-Sentinel, but I doubt I will be about to put that one up as well because they are always terrible about putting my articles up on their website. Anyways, here is the Messenger version of the game's events.
Lancers take down Eagles
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
STEWART - Federal Hocking may not have played its best game on Tuesday night, but the Lancers did just enough to defeat the Belpre Golden Eagles during a game that featured 17 walks.
Despite leaving 11 runners on base the Lancers combined seven timely hits with 11 walks to defeat the Golden Eagles 12-7 in Tri-Valley Conference play.
"It was long and disgusting and I dont like these kinds of games at all," FHHS coach Rocky Brunty said.
In fact the game was tied 2-2 through three full innings and Belpre boasted the games only hit.Federal Hocking appeared to be off to a quick start during the first inning when the first three batters reached base via walks. After the second walk of the inning, Belpre coach Terry Mullen removed starter Sean Haverty in favor of reliever Mike Waderker. Waderker walked the first batter he saw, but retired the next three. The Lancers scored just one run on a Jared Gandee sacrifice fly.
Mullen said that Haverty had not pitched for Belpre this season and because the team has played so many games this week his teams pitching corps was stretched thin.
While Belpre escaped the first Lancer rally, the fourth inning proved to be the difference as Federal Hocking pulled away with seven runs on three hits.
During the fourth inning the Lancers sent 13 batters to the plate. Zach Burke provided the ultimate winnings runs when he finished the innings scoring on a two-run single to right field.
Belpre responded in the top half of the fifth inning with three runs to cut the deficit to 9-5. Later, the Golden Eagles came as close as 11-7 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Lancers scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Burke took the mound in the seventh inning to close things out. Burke struck out two batters and allowed just one base runner to seal the Federal Hocking win.
After the game Brunty said he is impressed with Burkes progress after he played third, pitched, and recorded two hits during the game.
"He stepped up a lot from last year," Brunty said. "He keeps getting better and getting better and getting better. Thats what you ask out of your players, to keep improving. His bat has come a long way this year."
While Federal Hocking managed to defeat Belpre, the team that has defeated the Lancers in back-to-back years in the Division-III sectional championship, Brunty said much improvement is still needed.
"It's not one of those pretty wins that you are real happy and tickled about," he said. "We've got some issues and some things we have to work on and well get better."
B 002 032 0 - 7 6 1
FH 101 721 X - 12 7 0
B (4-4, 2-2): Sean Haverty, Mike Waderker (1), Tyler Watkins (4), R.J. Walker (6) and Mark Tate
FH (5-2, 3-0): Jared Gandee, Tyler Thompson, Zach Burke and Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 7:30
WP: Gandee LP: Waderker
Lancers take down Eagles
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
STEWART - Federal Hocking may not have played its best game on Tuesday night, but the Lancers did just enough to defeat the Belpre Golden Eagles during a game that featured 17 walks.
Despite leaving 11 runners on base the Lancers combined seven timely hits with 11 walks to defeat the Golden Eagles 12-7 in Tri-Valley Conference play.
"It was long and disgusting and I dont like these kinds of games at all," FHHS coach Rocky Brunty said.
In fact the game was tied 2-2 through three full innings and Belpre boasted the games only hit.Federal Hocking appeared to be off to a quick start during the first inning when the first three batters reached base via walks. After the second walk of the inning, Belpre coach Terry Mullen removed starter Sean Haverty in favor of reliever Mike Waderker. Waderker walked the first batter he saw, but retired the next three. The Lancers scored just one run on a Jared Gandee sacrifice fly.
Mullen said that Haverty had not pitched for Belpre this season and because the team has played so many games this week his teams pitching corps was stretched thin.
While Belpre escaped the first Lancer rally, the fourth inning proved to be the difference as Federal Hocking pulled away with seven runs on three hits.
During the fourth inning the Lancers sent 13 batters to the plate. Zach Burke provided the ultimate winnings runs when he finished the innings scoring on a two-run single to right field.
Belpre responded in the top half of the fifth inning with three runs to cut the deficit to 9-5. Later, the Golden Eagles came as close as 11-7 entering the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Lancers scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning and Burke took the mound in the seventh inning to close things out. Burke struck out two batters and allowed just one base runner to seal the Federal Hocking win.
After the game Brunty said he is impressed with Burkes progress after he played third, pitched, and recorded two hits during the game.
"He stepped up a lot from last year," Brunty said. "He keeps getting better and getting better and getting better. Thats what you ask out of your players, to keep improving. His bat has come a long way this year."
While Federal Hocking managed to defeat Belpre, the team that has defeated the Lancers in back-to-back years in the Division-III sectional championship, Brunty said much improvement is still needed.
"It's not one of those pretty wins that you are real happy and tickled about," he said. "We've got some issues and some things we have to work on and well get better."
B 002 032 0 - 7 6 1
FH 101 721 X - 12 7 0
B (4-4, 2-2): Sean Haverty, Mike Waderker (1), Tyler Watkins (4), R.J. Walker (6) and Mark Tate
FH (5-2, 3-0): Jared Gandee, Tyler Thompson, Zach Burke and Dewayne Clark
Start: 5:08 End: 7:30
WP: Gandee LP: Waderker
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Vinton County at Nelsonville-York
Here's my story for last night's Vinton County at Nelsonville-York game. I got to see another kid throw his first career complete game, had 13 K's too, so pretty impressive. Tonight I'm going to Stewart to watch Belpre play at Federal Hocking. Federal Hocking is one of my favorite places to go and this will be the first time I will be out there this season. I get to go there tomorrow to see them play Fort Frye. Anyway, below is last night's article.
Grillo pitches strong for Vikings
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
NELSONVILLE - Vinton County pitcher Andy Grillo threw the best game of his young high school career on Monday night and his pitching coach did not even attend the game.
Grillo, a sophomore, threw his first career complete game and allowed just four hits as the Vinton County Vikings defeated the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes 7-1 in a Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division match-up.
After the game, when asked about his missing pitching coach, Grillo said his coach would still try to take credit for his performance.
"He will be like, 'Good game, I told you to do that after our doubleheader (Saturday),'" Grillo said. "That's what he told me. I'll have to rub it in a little bit."
By game's end on Monday Grillo had struck out 13 batters compared to one walk.
Vinton County coach Jeremy Ward said walks had been a problem during the team's four-game losing streak, but Grillo's outing helped snap the streak.
"He really gave us a chance," Ward said. "He had command of his pitches and kept them off-balance."
Many Buckeye batters were left lunging at the ball as Grillo mixed location and speed.
Grillo said it was nice to turn the tables on the opposition.
"It feels pretty good when I'm not doing it," Grillo said. "I'm the one out in front real far. It was a pretty cool feeling. It's cool to make someone else do it every once in a while."
As for Nelsonville-York, Buckeyes' coach Rocky Smathers said there was another reason his team struggled to make contact.
"We were pulling out on everything, stepping out and pulling out our heads and our shoulders," Smathers said. "We couldn't seem to correct it...It's hard to win when you strike out four innings worth."
Buckeye reliever Thomas Taggart followed starter Nick Hunter and threw effectively during 2 2-3 innings. Taggart, a freshman, faced 10 batters and struck out three Vikings while allowing one hit.
"He has nice little movement on his ball," Smathers said. "He was fairly poised out there...Eventually he'll be a nice pitcher for us."
Before Taggart entered, however, Vinton County took advantage of four Nelsonville-York errors while putting together eight hits. Viking leadoff hitter Anthony Bentley finished 3-for-3 while teammate Jon Rose went 2-for-4 with a double, triple, and three RBIs to help support Grillo.
During the game Grillo struck out multiple batters in five of seven innings, including the side in the fourth inning.
Grillo described his success after the game and said he hopes to keep his rhythm consistent.
"(I was) just keeping them on their toes, you just have to keep them guessing," he said. "Hopefully I can keep doing it throughout the season."
Vinton County 201 220 0 - 7 9 2
Nelsonville-York 010 000 0 - 1 4 5
V (4-5, 1-2): pitcher Andy Grillo, catcher Derek McManus
NY (1-5, 1-3) : pitchers Nick Hunter and Thomas Haggart (5), catcher Connor Bunting
Start: 5:07 End: 7:21
WP: Grillo LP: Hunter
Grillo pitches strong for Vikings
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
NELSONVILLE - Vinton County pitcher Andy Grillo threw the best game of his young high school career on Monday night and his pitching coach did not even attend the game.
Grillo, a sophomore, threw his first career complete game and allowed just four hits as the Vinton County Vikings defeated the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes 7-1 in a Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division match-up.
After the game, when asked about his missing pitching coach, Grillo said his coach would still try to take credit for his performance.
"He will be like, 'Good game, I told you to do that after our doubleheader (Saturday),'" Grillo said. "That's what he told me. I'll have to rub it in a little bit."
By game's end on Monday Grillo had struck out 13 batters compared to one walk.
Vinton County coach Jeremy Ward said walks had been a problem during the team's four-game losing streak, but Grillo's outing helped snap the streak.
"He really gave us a chance," Ward said. "He had command of his pitches and kept them off-balance."
Many Buckeye batters were left lunging at the ball as Grillo mixed location and speed.
Grillo said it was nice to turn the tables on the opposition.
"It feels pretty good when I'm not doing it," Grillo said. "I'm the one out in front real far. It was a pretty cool feeling. It's cool to make someone else do it every once in a while."
As for Nelsonville-York, Buckeyes' coach Rocky Smathers said there was another reason his team struggled to make contact.
"We were pulling out on everything, stepping out and pulling out our heads and our shoulders," Smathers said. "We couldn't seem to correct it...It's hard to win when you strike out four innings worth."
Buckeye reliever Thomas Taggart followed starter Nick Hunter and threw effectively during 2 2-3 innings. Taggart, a freshman, faced 10 batters and struck out three Vikings while allowing one hit.
"He has nice little movement on his ball," Smathers said. "He was fairly poised out there...Eventually he'll be a nice pitcher for us."
Before Taggart entered, however, Vinton County took advantage of four Nelsonville-York errors while putting together eight hits. Viking leadoff hitter Anthony Bentley finished 3-for-3 while teammate Jon Rose went 2-for-4 with a double, triple, and three RBIs to help support Grillo.
During the game Grillo struck out multiple batters in five of seven innings, including the side in the fourth inning.
Grillo described his success after the game and said he hopes to keep his rhythm consistent.
"(I was) just keeping them on their toes, you just have to keep them guessing," he said. "Hopefully I can keep doing it throughout the season."
Vinton County 201 220 0 - 7 9 2
Nelsonville-York 010 000 0 - 1 4 5
V (4-5, 1-2): pitcher Andy Grillo, catcher Derek McManus
NY (1-5, 1-3) : pitchers Nick Hunter and Thomas Haggart (5), catcher Connor Bunting
Start: 5:07 End: 7:21
WP: Grillo LP: Hunter
Monday, April 14, 2008
Reunion with Carbone
I was reunited with my good pal coach Joe Carbone yesterday when I got to cover the OU baseball team. It was nice to get to cover them once more. I don't get many chances with The Messenger like I did with The Post my first two years here. It was a good game besides the rain. There was an hour rain delay to start the game then 10 more minutes in the bottom of the first. After that it was all good though.
I have a busy week this week. I did the OU game yesterday and I have high school games today, tomorrow, and Wednesday evening. I'm also working at Coldstone tomorrow and Friday so hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have some nice checks heading my way. I will need it by then because Oak Fest and the Gorge will be quickly approaching. Plus with nice weather coming I'm sure we'll be out on the porch grilling and drinking so I will need more disposable income.
Well that's it. Below is my story from yesterday.
Bobcats snap four-game slide
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
Matt Stiffler's school-record 26-game hit streak came to an end Sunday afternoon, but the outfielder just took it in stride because Ohio's four-game losing streak came to an end as well.
Stiffler finished 0-for-3, but his teammates picked him up as Ohio defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 14-8 to avoid a weekend sweep.
After the game Stiffler said that an interview he gave yesterday may have jinxed his streak.
"I got interviewed yesterday about it and the guy asked if theres anything that I would give my hit streak up for and I said a win today", Stiffler said.
During a team meeting after the game Ohio coach Joe Carbone joked with Stiffler and told him that Carbone himself had a 42-game hitting streak as an Ohio player but the stats were held deep in the archives.
Although Stiffler did not get a hit, he started things off with a walk in the first inning and eventually scored the games first run. The Bobcats scored seven times during the first inning while Ohio sent 10 batters to the plate. Second baseman Zach Keen hit his first career home run during the rally.
Keen, a freshman, said he knew his fellow teammates would give him a hard time when he got back to the dugout.
"I was grinning going around the bases, Keen said. "I knew everybody was going to give me crap about it because I'm pretty much a singles guy."
Defensively starter Jason Moulton left during the fourth inning with pain in his elbow. Carbone called on reliever Kevin Mementowski from the bench to take over. Mementowski pitched the final five and two-thirds innings and allowed just one earned run.
"I just knew coming in that we had to hold them," Mementowski said. "When you got bats hitting like we are it's not too hard to pitch."
Carbone said Mementowski's effort propelled the Bobcats to victory.
"Memo was huge for us, he said. He came up bigger as a performer than anybody all weekend. We used him on Friday and used him a lot kind of. He came back and gave us a real shot in the arm."
While Stiffler's streak came to an end outfielder Marc Krauss extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a sixth-inning home run to centerfield. The two-run shot gave Ohio a 13-8 lead after six innings.
Robert Maddox III also contributed with a home run to lead off the third inning his sixth of the year.
By game's end, the Bobcats were just happy to end the week with a win after losing three straight games in extra innings.
"It was real important," Carbone said. "I told the guys don't be devastated that we lose the weekend series. What counts is all the games throughout the year."
Ohio now improves to 16-16 overall and 8-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
EMU: 110 411 000 8 11 2
O: 712 003 10X 14 14 6
HR: Krauss (4), Maddox III (6), Keen (1)
E: pitchers Kevin Sikora, Jake Stapf (1), Dan Puls (7) catcher Andrew Marshall
O: pitchers James Moulton, Kevin Mementowski (4), catcher Chris Klimko
WP: Mementowski (1-3) LP: Sikora (0-3)
I have a busy week this week. I did the OU game yesterday and I have high school games today, tomorrow, and Wednesday evening. I'm also working at Coldstone tomorrow and Friday so hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have some nice checks heading my way. I will need it by then because Oak Fest and the Gorge will be quickly approaching. Plus with nice weather coming I'm sure we'll be out on the porch grilling and drinking so I will need more disposable income.
Well that's it. Below is my story from yesterday.
Bobcats snap four-game slide
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
Matt Stiffler's school-record 26-game hit streak came to an end Sunday afternoon, but the outfielder just took it in stride because Ohio's four-game losing streak came to an end as well.
Stiffler finished 0-for-3, but his teammates picked him up as Ohio defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 14-8 to avoid a weekend sweep.
After the game Stiffler said that an interview he gave yesterday may have jinxed his streak.
"I got interviewed yesterday about it and the guy asked if theres anything that I would give my hit streak up for and I said a win today", Stiffler said.
During a team meeting after the game Ohio coach Joe Carbone joked with Stiffler and told him that Carbone himself had a 42-game hitting streak as an Ohio player but the stats were held deep in the archives.
Although Stiffler did not get a hit, he started things off with a walk in the first inning and eventually scored the games first run. The Bobcats scored seven times during the first inning while Ohio sent 10 batters to the plate. Second baseman Zach Keen hit his first career home run during the rally.
Keen, a freshman, said he knew his fellow teammates would give him a hard time when he got back to the dugout.
"I was grinning going around the bases, Keen said. "I knew everybody was going to give me crap about it because I'm pretty much a singles guy."
Defensively starter Jason Moulton left during the fourth inning with pain in his elbow. Carbone called on reliever Kevin Mementowski from the bench to take over. Mementowski pitched the final five and two-thirds innings and allowed just one earned run.
"I just knew coming in that we had to hold them," Mementowski said. "When you got bats hitting like we are it's not too hard to pitch."
Carbone said Mementowski's effort propelled the Bobcats to victory.
"Memo was huge for us, he said. He came up bigger as a performer than anybody all weekend. We used him on Friday and used him a lot kind of. He came back and gave us a real shot in the arm."
While Stiffler's streak came to an end outfielder Marc Krauss extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a sixth-inning home run to centerfield. The two-run shot gave Ohio a 13-8 lead after six innings.
Robert Maddox III also contributed with a home run to lead off the third inning his sixth of the year.
By game's end, the Bobcats were just happy to end the week with a win after losing three straight games in extra innings.
"It was real important," Carbone said. "I told the guys don't be devastated that we lose the weekend series. What counts is all the games throughout the year."
Ohio now improves to 16-16 overall and 8-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
EMU: 110 411 000 8 11 2
O: 712 003 10X 14 14 6
HR: Krauss (4), Maddox III (6), Keen (1)
E: pitchers Kevin Sikora, Jake Stapf (1), Dan Puls (7) catcher Andrew Marshall
O: pitchers James Moulton, Kevin Mementowski (4), catcher Chris Klimko
WP: Mementowski (1-3) LP: Sikora (0-3)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Trimble at Athens
From Wednesday, April 9.
Athens plays small ball in win over Trimble
NICK BROCKMAN
THE PLAINS -- Athens baseball coach Fred Gibson will take a win anyway he can get one and Wednesday night the Bulldogs won playing small ball.
Athens did it the old-fashioned way as the Bulldogs got runners on, moved them over, and brought them home to defeat the Trimble Tomcats 12-2 in five innings.
"Any time you get a win, you're tickled to death," Gibson said. "We are going to try and be aggressive as we possibly can."
The Bulldogs scored in four of their five at-bats, but did most of their damage in the first and fifth innings. In the bottom of the first inning Athens jumped ahead 4-0. Up 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning the Bulldogs scored five more times to end the game.
During Athens' rallies the offense capitalized on walks by moving the runners over with sacrifice bunts and fly balls as well as singles. By game's end the Bulldogs scored on three sacrifice flies.
In the fourth inning Bulldog Greg Pach scored on a Jared Cline fly ball to a backpedaling second baseman in short right field.
Once again in the fifth inning the Bulldogs caught the Tomcat defense off guard on a sacrifice. A.J. Cadamagnani hit a fly ball that was caught in foul territory down the right field line. An alert Kyle Dean tagged from third base and safely scored. An error on the play allowed a second Bulldog to score and increase the lead to 10-2.
"You give a good team extra outs and it could hurt you," Trimble coach Phil Faires said. "Our right fielder, with the bases loaded, catches the ball and then doesn't know to throw home with the runner tagging and he just stands there with it. That's just an example of not having your head in the game."
Offensively, Trimble put runners on base, but struggled all game to find a break through hit. Athens pitching gave up eight walks and limited Trimble to just three hits all game.
"Guys aren't swinging at bad pitches," Faires said. "That's a good thing. If the pitcher is having trouble, we're making him throw."
Trimble left seven runners on base including the bases loaded in the third inning.
Although Gibson said he was not happy with how many walks Athens allowed, he still felt good about starter Mitch Crabtree's outing.
"Our starting pitcher went four innings and I thought he had good stuff," Gibson said, "But he also threw 88 pitches in four innings. He obviously made some extra pitches. It was a good first effort."
Athens improves to 2-1 with the win and Trimble drops to 1-5 overall.
Athens 12, Trimble 2
Trimble 010 10 - 2 3 4
Athens 410 25 - 12 14 0
Trimble: pitchers Charles Kish, Chas Craig (5), catcher Kasey Cruse
Athens: pitchers Mitch Crabtree, A.J. Cadamagnani (5), catcher Kyle Dean
WP: Crabtree
LP: Kish
Athens plays small ball in win over Trimble
NICK BROCKMAN
THE PLAINS -- Athens baseball coach Fred Gibson will take a win anyway he can get one and Wednesday night the Bulldogs won playing small ball.
Athens did it the old-fashioned way as the Bulldogs got runners on, moved them over, and brought them home to defeat the Trimble Tomcats 12-2 in five innings.
"Any time you get a win, you're tickled to death," Gibson said. "We are going to try and be aggressive as we possibly can."
The Bulldogs scored in four of their five at-bats, but did most of their damage in the first and fifth innings. In the bottom of the first inning Athens jumped ahead 4-0. Up 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning the Bulldogs scored five more times to end the game.
During Athens' rallies the offense capitalized on walks by moving the runners over with sacrifice bunts and fly balls as well as singles. By game's end the Bulldogs scored on three sacrifice flies.
In the fourth inning Bulldog Greg Pach scored on a Jared Cline fly ball to a backpedaling second baseman in short right field.
Once again in the fifth inning the Bulldogs caught the Tomcat defense off guard on a sacrifice. A.J. Cadamagnani hit a fly ball that was caught in foul territory down the right field line. An alert Kyle Dean tagged from third base and safely scored. An error on the play allowed a second Bulldog to score and increase the lead to 10-2.
"You give a good team extra outs and it could hurt you," Trimble coach Phil Faires said. "Our right fielder, with the bases loaded, catches the ball and then doesn't know to throw home with the runner tagging and he just stands there with it. That's just an example of not having your head in the game."
Offensively, Trimble put runners on base, but struggled all game to find a break through hit. Athens pitching gave up eight walks and limited Trimble to just three hits all game.
"Guys aren't swinging at bad pitches," Faires said. "That's a good thing. If the pitcher is having trouble, we're making him throw."
Trimble left seven runners on base including the bases loaded in the third inning.
Although Gibson said he was not happy with how many walks Athens allowed, he still felt good about starter Mitch Crabtree's outing.
"Our starting pitcher went four innings and I thought he had good stuff," Gibson said, "But he also threw 88 pitches in four innings. He obviously made some extra pitches. It was a good first effort."
Athens improves to 2-1 with the win and Trimble drops to 1-5 overall.
Athens 12, Trimble 2
Trimble 010 10 - 2 3 4
Athens 410 25 - 12 14 0
Trimble: pitchers Charles Kish, Chas Craig (5), catcher Kasey Cruse
Athens: pitchers Mitch Crabtree, A.J. Cadamagnani (5), catcher Kyle Dean
WP: Crabtree
LP: Kish
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Vinton County at Alexander
Just wanted to put up my latest story for The Athens Messenger. It was the Vinton County at Alexander baseball game on Monday night. Tomorrow I'm doing the Trimble at Athens high school baseball game if it doesn't get rained out.
Spartans begin season with win
By NICK BROCKMAN
ALBANY - Alexander may have lost 10 seniors from last years' Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division championship team, but the Spartans started the season on a strong note in defense of their title.
Alexander scored in each of its first three at-bats and eventually defeated the Vinton County Vikings 8-5 on Monday night in the Spartans' season-opener.
"This is the first of hopefully many from this young team," Alexander coach Vaughn Grigsby said. "I was pleased overall with the way we played too for us to have as young a team as I got."
Grigsby sent junior Josh Moritz to the mound for his first career varsity start. Moritz allowed 12 hits, but managed to limit the Viking rallies once runners reached base by making key pitches and allowing his defense to pick him up.
"I thought Josh threw the ball extremely well," Grigsby said. "He mixed it up well. He threw his off-speed pitch and threw his curveball for strikes. That just makes that fastball that much faster."
Moritz and the Spartans entered the top of the seventh inning with an 8-3 lead, but the Vikings never gave up. With two outs and two runners on, pinch-hitter Trey Hedrick found a hole in right field to cut the lead to three runs. Moritz, however, regrouped and struck out the next batter looking to end the game.
"He got the game ball out there tonight," Grigsby said. "I tossed that to him when we talked to him. I was really proud of him."
By game's end the Vikings out-hit the Spartans 12 to four, but Alexander took advantage of seven walks and timely hitting while Vinton County could not string together enough hits. The Vikings left 10 runners on base during the game.
"We had our key hitters up with runners in scoring position and we weren't able to break through," Vinton County coach Jeremy Ward said. "We hit the ball. We had some good at-bats. We had some opportunities. They just simply scored every time they got on base and they really maximized their opportunities."
Each of Alexander's first six batters contributed with a RBI during the game, but Grigsby said he was most impressed with leadoff hitter Matt Sheets.
Sheets, a junior centerfielder, finished the game 1-for-1 with three walks, two stolen bases, and a RBI.
"Matt Sheets, he's going to set the table for us," Grigsby said. "If he gets on base good things are going to happen."
After the game Grigsby said he was concerned that the team collected just four hits, but said the win is the most important stat.
"All in all we can't complain about the first win," he said. "I thought we did a good job tonight."
Alexander starts the season 1-0 while Vinton County drops to 2-1.
Alexander 8, Vinton County 5
Vinton County 110 001 2 - 5 12 1
Alexander 241 001 X - 8 4 1
Start: 4:58 End: 7:05
A: pitcher Josh Moritz, catcher Michael Chapman
V: pitchers Taylor Reed, Andy Grillo (2), Tyler Dutcher (6), catcher Derek McManus
WP: Moritz
LP: Reed
Spartans begin season with win
By NICK BROCKMAN
ALBANY - Alexander may have lost 10 seniors from last years' Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division championship team, but the Spartans started the season on a strong note in defense of their title.
Alexander scored in each of its first three at-bats and eventually defeated the Vinton County Vikings 8-5 on Monday night in the Spartans' season-opener.
"This is the first of hopefully many from this young team," Alexander coach Vaughn Grigsby said. "I was pleased overall with the way we played too for us to have as young a team as I got."
Grigsby sent junior Josh Moritz to the mound for his first career varsity start. Moritz allowed 12 hits, but managed to limit the Viking rallies once runners reached base by making key pitches and allowing his defense to pick him up.
"I thought Josh threw the ball extremely well," Grigsby said. "He mixed it up well. He threw his off-speed pitch and threw his curveball for strikes. That just makes that fastball that much faster."
Moritz and the Spartans entered the top of the seventh inning with an 8-3 lead, but the Vikings never gave up. With two outs and two runners on, pinch-hitter Trey Hedrick found a hole in right field to cut the lead to three runs. Moritz, however, regrouped and struck out the next batter looking to end the game.
"He got the game ball out there tonight," Grigsby said. "I tossed that to him when we talked to him. I was really proud of him."
By game's end the Vikings out-hit the Spartans 12 to four, but Alexander took advantage of seven walks and timely hitting while Vinton County could not string together enough hits. The Vikings left 10 runners on base during the game.
"We had our key hitters up with runners in scoring position and we weren't able to break through," Vinton County coach Jeremy Ward said. "We hit the ball. We had some good at-bats. We had some opportunities. They just simply scored every time they got on base and they really maximized their opportunities."
Each of Alexander's first six batters contributed with a RBI during the game, but Grigsby said he was most impressed with leadoff hitter Matt Sheets.
Sheets, a junior centerfielder, finished the game 1-for-1 with three walks, two stolen bases, and a RBI.
"Matt Sheets, he's going to set the table for us," Grigsby said. "If he gets on base good things are going to happen."
After the game Grigsby said he was concerned that the team collected just four hits, but said the win is the most important stat.
"All in all we can't complain about the first win," he said. "I thought we did a good job tonight."
Alexander starts the season 1-0 while Vinton County drops to 2-1.
Alexander 8, Vinton County 5
Vinton County 110 001 2 - 5 12 1
Alexander 241 001 X - 8 4 1
Start: 4:58 End: 7:05
A: pitcher Josh Moritz, catcher Michael Chapman
V: pitchers Taylor Reed, Andy Grillo (2), Tyler Dutcher (6), catcher Derek McManus
WP: Moritz
LP: Reed
Friday, April 4, 2008
Back to the Mess
Tomcats shutout Falcons
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
GLOUSTER - Last year Taylor Russell served as a spot relief pitcher, but Thursday night the converted reliever showed he can go the distance.
Russell started off the Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division schedule and tossed his first career complete-game shutout as the Trimble Tomcats defeated the Miller Falcons 5-0 for the team's first victory of the season.
Despite the slick field conditions Trimble coach Phil Faires said he felt Russell could work the full game.
"Really, I did," Faires said. "He doesn't throw hard and he can throw every inning. I really thought he would throw the whole way. He's a gamer. He's probably the only guy I got out there that I was confident that could throw strikes in this."
The Tomcat defense helped Russell escape multiple jams as the Falcons left eight total runners on base. Up just 2-0 in the top of the third inning Miller threatened with runners on first and second with one out. Falcon Troy Moore hit a ball sharply to shortstop Isaac Standley who began the 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Standley flashed his defensive skills once again in the fifth inning to help his team thwart another Falcon rally.
With two outs and runners on first and third, Miller batter Ryan Estep slapped a grounder at the shortstop. Standley smothered the ball and alertly crawled to second base to tag the base with his glove for the force out.
Faires said he was proud of Standley's glove work considering his short time on the field.
"That was great," Faires said. "It's his first year playing baseball so he did a pretty good job."
While Standley and the Tomcats displayed their defense and Russell shutdown the opposition on the mound, Trimble scored runs in each of its first three at- bats. Trimble's big inning came in third. The Tomcats scored three runs to jump ahead 5-0, ultimately the final score.
Although Trimble scored five times, Miller actually out-hit the Tomcats 6-5.
Miller coach John Patterson said his team did not string together enough hits in timely situations to erase the deficit.
"We needed that one swing to break open the inning, and we had some base running errors," Patterson said. "At least it's something you can work on and kind of go from there."
In the end though, it was Trimble that struck at the opportune times as Russell notched his first win.
"It feels great," Russell said. "Hopefully we can just keep getting more and more as the year goes on."
Trimble improves to 1-2 with the win and Miller drops to 0-1.
Miller: 000 000 0 0R 6H 1E
Trimble: 113 000 X 5R 5H 1E
Miller: pitchers Ryan Green, Ryan Estep (5), catcher Jacob Reynolds
Trimble: pitcher Taylor Russell, catcher Kasey Cruse
WP: Russell
LP: Green
NICK BROCKMAN
Special to The Messenger
GLOUSTER - Last year Taylor Russell served as a spot relief pitcher, but Thursday night the converted reliever showed he can go the distance.
Russell started off the Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division schedule and tossed his first career complete-game shutout as the Trimble Tomcats defeated the Miller Falcons 5-0 for the team's first victory of the season.
Despite the slick field conditions Trimble coach Phil Faires said he felt Russell could work the full game.
"Really, I did," Faires said. "He doesn't throw hard and he can throw every inning. I really thought he would throw the whole way. He's a gamer. He's probably the only guy I got out there that I was confident that could throw strikes in this."
The Tomcat defense helped Russell escape multiple jams as the Falcons left eight total runners on base. Up just 2-0 in the top of the third inning Miller threatened with runners on first and second with one out. Falcon Troy Moore hit a ball sharply to shortstop Isaac Standley who began the 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Standley flashed his defensive skills once again in the fifth inning to help his team thwart another Falcon rally.
With two outs and runners on first and third, Miller batter Ryan Estep slapped a grounder at the shortstop. Standley smothered the ball and alertly crawled to second base to tag the base with his glove for the force out.
Faires said he was proud of Standley's glove work considering his short time on the field.
"That was great," Faires said. "It's his first year playing baseball so he did a pretty good job."
While Standley and the Tomcats displayed their defense and Russell shutdown the opposition on the mound, Trimble scored runs in each of its first three at- bats. Trimble's big inning came in third. The Tomcats scored three runs to jump ahead 5-0, ultimately the final score.
Although Trimble scored five times, Miller actually out-hit the Tomcats 6-5.
Miller coach John Patterson said his team did not string together enough hits in timely situations to erase the deficit.
"We needed that one swing to break open the inning, and we had some base running errors," Patterson said. "At least it's something you can work on and kind of go from there."
In the end though, it was Trimble that struck at the opportune times as Russell notched his first win.
"It feels great," Russell said. "Hopefully we can just keep getting more and more as the year goes on."
Trimble improves to 1-2 with the win and Miller drops to 0-1.
Miller: 000 000 0 0R 6H 1E
Trimble: 113 000 X 5R 5H 1E
Miller: pitchers Ryan Green, Ryan Estep (5), catcher Jacob Reynolds
Trimble: pitcher Taylor Russell, catcher Kasey Cruse
WP: Russell
LP: Green
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