By Mark Carpenter-
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After handing the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs their first Southern Hills Athletic Conference loss by a 4-1 tally on April 22 in West Union, the Dragons’ baseball nine had the unenviable task of facing the wounded Mustangs the very next day, this time on the Lynchburg diamond. After playing a near flawless game in their win over the Mustangs, the Dragons were unable to repeat that performance in round two, committing five errors behind starting pitcher Alex Hirsch that led to six unearned runs for the Mustangs as the home team got their revenge with a 9-5 triumph.
With Lynchburg starter Drew Pitzer allowing just one run over the first three innings, the Mustangs picked up one in the bottom of the second and then “nickel and dimed” the Dragons to the tune of five runs in the bottom half of the third. Lynchburg used the bunt to perfection four times in the frame, putting the pressure on the West Union defense, and left the at-bat with a 6-1 advantage.
Putting that rough defensive inning behind them, the Dragons bounced back to score three times in the top of the fourth. Hirsch led off the inning with a three-bagger to center and it looked as if he might die 90 feet away when Pitzer struck out Brandan Cornell and Alex Pollard, but a two-out base hit to left by Brycen Staten scored Hirsch and kept the West Union rally alive. Staten came home on a base hit by Aaron Whaley to make it 6-3 and Whaley crossed home via a single to center by Dylan Grooms and the Dragons had cut the Lynchburg lead down to just two runs, but that was as close as they were to get.
The Mustangs answered with two scores in the bottom of the fourth and then added another in the bottom of the sixth to stretch their lead to 9-4. With three outs left to make up a big deficit, the Dragons were able to score once in their final at-bat on a run-scoring single by Cornell, but a strikeout swinging by Pollard was the final out in a 9-5 victory that clinched the big school division title in the SHAC for the host Mustangs.
In the loss, the West Union offense produced eight hits, half of them belonged to the combined efforts of Grooms and Zane Kingsolver, who had two apiece. Hirsch threw a complete game six-inning effort, being touched up for 12 hits, but just three earned runs in taking the loss.
The Dragons bounced back on Wednesday, April 24 to get back in the win column with an 20-2 rout of the Ripley Blue Jays, getting eight runs in the top of the first and nine in the top of the seventh on their way to improving their season mark to 10-6.
In the win at Ripley, Dylan Grooms tossed a seven-inning three-hitter to get the win and he was backed up on offense by a 21-hit attack, three each from Hirsch, Staten, Whaley, and three RBI’s from Ryan Rothwell and a team-high four “ribeye steaks” off the bat of Kenny Stephenson.
With the regular season winding down, the Dragons were busy this week, hosting Western Latham in non-conference action on Monday, traveling to North Adams in conference play on Tuesday, hosting those same Green Devils on Friday, and traveling across the Brown County line on Saturday for a 10 a.m. tilt in Georgetown.
West Union
001 300 1 –5
Lynchburg
015 201 x –9
W. Union Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Kingsolver 4-1-2-0, Rothwell 3-0-0-0, Hirsch 3-1-1-0, Cornell 4-0-1-1, Pollard 4-0-0-0. Staten 3-1-1-1, Whaley 1-2-1-1, Grooms 3-0-2-1, Madden 3-0-0-0, Team 28-5-8-4.
Extra-Base Hits: Hirsch 3B
Lynchburg Offense (AB-R-H-RBI): Bourne 4-1-1-0, Pitzer 4-2-1-0, Wolfe 3-2-2-1, McConnaughey 4-1-2-1, Hess 4-2-2-0, Pierson 3-1-0-0, Proctor 3-0-2-2, Smaltz 3-0-1-1, Barber 3-0-1-0, Team 31-9-12-5.
Extra- Base Hits: Wolfe 2B
W. Union Pitching:
Hirsch (L) 6 IP, 12 H, 9 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 72 pitches
Lynchburg Pitching:
Pitzer (W) 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 100 pitches
Hess 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K