News

by Eric Walker

Athens, OH -- A great Sunday night at Bob Wren Stadium saw the Southern Ohio Copperheads (20-15) extend their winning streak to five games after beating the Cincinnati Steam (19-16) 14-6 behind an offensive explosion.

Since the three-day break for the GLSCL All-Star Game, the Copperheads are hitting their best all season. They have amassed 46 runs in the past five games with different players stepping up each time. The team batting average is over .300 for the winning streak along with five homers total.

“I think this is as good as we’ve played offensively all year,” head coach Phil Butler said. “I think we’ve been really good all year and it seems that we’ve strung together some games here where we’ve been really good the whole time.”

There was no waiting around for the Copperheads Sunday as they jumped on Steam starting pitcher Grey Harmon in the first inning. Back-to-back triples by Daniel McFarland and Phillip Tomasulo got the scoring started right off the bat. A walk to Justin Antoncic followed by a RBI double by Blaine Crim gave the Copperheads the 2-0 lead before Ty Suntken brought home Antoncic with a single.

When the leadoff hitter of the inning gets on, good things tend to happen, and the Copperheads demonstrated that fact in the third inning as Tomasulo singled and Antoncic walked. With two outs, Bryson Smith walked to load the bases before Connor Regan hit the first pitch he saw up the middle for a two RBI single, extending the lead to five.

Cole Shinsky made his first start of the season and ran into trouble in only one of his six innings. Shinsky kept the Steam off-balance all game long, giving up three hits and two earned runs while striking out six hitters.

The lead was cut to two runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Steam used two hits, one error, and a walk to score three runs off Shinsky even though only one ball was hit hard.

Suntken picked up his 22nd RBI of the year in the bottom of the fifth as he launched a Casey Grimm fastball over the left field fence. A walk to Bryson Smith and single by Regan chased Grimm with two outs, and Marshall Smith welcomed Chris Barber into the game with the Copperheads third triple of the game. A single by McFarland plated Smith and gave the Copperheads a 9-3 lead.

Marshall Smith picked up his second multi-hit game in his last three starts. The second baseman notched two hits in five at-bats on the night and scored one run.

“It felt great. I was able to put great swings on the ball, it feels good to contribute at the plate,” Marshall Smith said.

The 10th Copperhead run scored in the sixth inning with a leadoff double by Antoncic. Suntken followed with a walk with one out and Bryson Smith lined a single to left for his 12th RBI of the season. A walk with two outs brought up Marshall Smith, who smashed a single up the middle to bring his RBI total for the game to four, matching his season total coming into the game.

Jesse James relieved Shinsky in the seventh and set the Steam down one-two-three before escaping the eight. "The Outlaw" gave up only one run before Matt Harrison made his pitching debut in the ninth inning.

The five-game winning streak has given the Copperheads a large amount of confidence as they head into their final six games of the season.

“I think those guys are really confident right now, there is a lot of energy in the dugout, and those guys are expecting to win games as opposed to going out there and just playing,” Butler said.

A four-game road trip begins for the Copperheads as they take on the Grand Lake Mariners (19-15). The Mariners hold second-place in the Central Division and face Southern Ohio Tuesday and Wednesday. That series is followed by one against divisional opponent Hamilton Joes (11-22) Thursday and Friday.