News

by Janie Dulaney and Billy McDermott

 

Game One

Athens, Ohio― Blaine Crim’s sacrifice fly-walk off in the bottom of the seventh inning earned the thrilling 4-3 win for the Southern Ohio Copperheads in the first game of the double-header that mostly evaded the forecasted rain.

Right-handed pitcher Blake Holub made his first start of the season for the Copperheads a strong one, striking out two of the three lead-off Hamilton batters.

In the bottom of the first, Southern Ohio’s Ray Zuberer drilled a single to center field that broke his bat to get the Copperheads their first offensive action of the contest, but a fly out ended the inning scoreless.

Mason Nadeau took advantage the damp outfield grass to make a sliding catch for the first out of the second. Another strikeout from an aggressive and composed Holub concluded the inning.

Holub stayed hot on the offensive side with a single for his first at-bat but was left stranded as the Copperheads were unable to get anything going in the second.

A sacrifice fly at the top of the third scored the first run to put the Joes on the board, but Holub escaped loaded bases to make that the only run for Hamilton.

In his final inning pitched, Holub added two more strikeouts to his night making for eight total strikeouts, three hits, one run, one run allowed, and two walks.

After a number of slow innings, the bottom of the fifth made up for the lack of activity earlier. Joe Stewart sparked some life for the Copperheads, scored the first run off an RBI-single from Scott Combs to make it a tie game. Picking up on this momentum, Weisenseel then advanced Combs to second with a single of his own off his first pitch. Nadeau was walked after a full count, loading the bases and bringing in a new Hamilton pitcher for Zazzaro who brought home Combs on his first hit of the game to put Southern Ohio up 2-1. Weisenseel scored the next run for the Copperheads to make it 3-1 brought in by Zuberer who was narrowly called out at first for a call argued by Coach Phil Butler.

Hamilton hit back in the sixth inning with a solo shot off RHP Austin Weaver’s first batter to make it 3-2, but the Joes left two on base at the end of the inning.

RHP Joel Hake came into pitch in relief during the seventh, and a bare-handed throw from Crim to Zuberer brought the first out of the inning. With two men on base, Griffin Doersching struck for a second time of the night, tying the game 3-3- with an RBI single to left field.

Weisenseel led off with a single up the center followed by Nadeau who attempted to bunt but was hit on the pitch. A Zuberer walk loaded the bases for Crim, who hit a sacrifice fly to score Weisenseel and win the game 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

 

Game Two

The Copperheads fell to the Hamilton Joes by five runs in the second game of their doubleheader Sunday night after seven innings of baseball.

Dalton Earich, the right-hander from Youngstown State University, was the designated starting pitcher for the Copperheads to begin the second game.

Ty Suntken started things off for Southern Ohio when he grounded a single between short and third, and stole second soon after. Ray Zuberer then hit a RBI single to right that drove in Suntken for the first run of the game. After another steal call from Phil Butler, Zuberer reached second and then third after a throwing error from Hamilton’s catcher, Marshall Rich. Despite aggressive baserunning, the Joes were able to hold the Copperheads to only one run in the first.

Hamilton retaliated in the top of the third when they were able to string together a series of hits that resulted in Justin McConnell, Chris Hamilton and Sean McGeehan to cross the plate and take a 3-1 lead.

The Joes added four more runs to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when the heart of their lineup would once again convert with runners on base. Griffin Doersching continued his exhibition when he hit a line drive to score McConnell for the first run. Another hard hit to the wall from Hamilton rattled the Copperhead defense causing Earich to be replaced with side-arm reliever, Winston Whitener. Sean McGeehan stayed persistent at the plate, however, and bounced another single through the infield to drive in Doersching. Hamilton and McGeehan scored next when Adisyn Coffey hit a two-run RBI single to seize a six-run lead before the Copperheads could end the inning.

Chris Mutter entered the game in the sixth to relieve for Whitener and pitched two scoreless innings, but the damage had already been done.

Zuberer scored Suntken in the bottom of the seventh, but the extensive run differential held by the Joes throughout the night was debilitating enough that the Copperheads weren’t able to gain momentum on the offensive side of the ball. As the night came to a close, the Copperheads split the two-game series with the Joes taking one win and one loss.

The Copperheads are now 24-10 on the season and two games behind the Cincinnati Steam for first place in the Southern Division.

Southern Ohio matches up against the Galion Graders Tuesday night in an effort to surpass the Steam for first place. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.