News

by Janie Dulaney

Athens, Ohio - In what was supposed to be the first doubleheader of the season, the Southern Ohio Copperheads took on the Xenia Scouts at Bob Wren Stadium. The weather had other plans, and a rain delay led to the cancellation of the second game. In the end, the Copperheads fell 9-7 in seven innings of rain-filled baseball.

Right-handed pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks came out to the mound aggressively, starting the game with a strikeout. A fly out to right field knocked out the second Xenia batter, and after a full count, Darrell-Hicks struck out Graham Welch to send the Copperheads into the bottom of the first.

Ty Suntken brought out the wild side of right-hander Diego Quinones, drawing a walk and advancing to second and third on a set of wild pitches. Next up, Thomas Zazzaro drew a walk and advanced to second off another wild pitch to Ray Zuberer. Zuberer punched one just past Quinones and was able to make it to second off an error from the Scouts’ second baseman, the run also scored Zazzaro. The Copperheads extended the lead when Blake Holub hit a fly out to right field and also scored Zuberer and made it 2-0. In the bottom of the inning, Darrell-Hicks retired Felix King and Jarret Lindsay and earned his fourth strikeout of the game.

Nadeau started the second advancing to first and then second off an error by the first basemen. A wild pitch moved Nadeau to third, who scored off a sacrifice fly from Joey Weisenseel to keep the Copperheads up 3-0. Suntken was walked again to start the top of the order and after Quinones attempted to throw him out at first, an error advanced Suntken to second before the end of the inning.

Darrell-Hicks stayed hot in the third when he struck out Zach Bacon. An error from Weisenseel advanced a Scout to first base but he was thrown out trying to steal second. After a second walk, Darrell-Hicks struck out the last Scout which ushered in a nearly two-hour rain delay.

RHP Austin Weaver stepped up to the mound at the top of the fourth for the Copperheads and threw one wild pitch and walked two to load the bases as rain started to fall again. Weaver struck out his first Scout with the bases still loaded but a walk scored Xenia and inched them closer to a 3-1 Copperheads lead. The Scouts’ were unable to score again with the bases still loaded when Weaver struck out the last Xenia batter to end the inning. Left-handed pitcher Willie Poe entered at the top of the fifth and struck out two batters for the Copperheads as steady rain continued to fall.

Xenia came back to life for a lengthy top of the sixth, after Gus Cunningham came in to relieve Poe with bases loaded, one Scout scored off a walk, and an infield single tied it 3-3. Xenia gained the lead shortly after a Scout was narrowly thrown out at first, but another scored on that play and a run off a walk gave them the 5-3 advantage. Three more Scouts scored, and Kyle Wisniewski took over on the mound with the score at 8-3 and struck out one batter to finish of the inning.

Xenia scored again at the top of the seventh off a slow roller towards third base that increased their lead to 9-3, but Wisniewski struck out two Scouts to end the inning.

The Copperheads rallied in the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough to gain the lead as the Scouts came away with the win. Suntken hit a single to right field to start the bottom of the seventh, advancing Weisenseel to second and Zazzaro was walked to load the bases. Zuberer hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Suntken and an RBI double from Crim pulled the Copperheads closer to Xenia 9-5. Blake Holub batted in another run for the Copperheads and Kyle Casserly singled to center batting in the fourth run of the inning, but the final score was 9-7.