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
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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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