Indians get run-rule win over West Union

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

An all-county Southern Hills Athletic Conference battle came to Peebles High School on April 8 as the Indians played host to the West Union Dragons. It was just the third game of the season for the Peebles squad while the Dragons were taking the field for just the fifth time, both teams with a number of cancellations dotting their spring schedule.

On this day it was all Indians as they attacked the Dragons early and often, battering West Union pitching for 12 runs in their first two at-bats, then cruising home with a 16-5 run-rule victory. The Peebles attack, paced by three hits from Lukas Schmus, banged out nine hits and right hander Brandon Rayburn tossed four innings on the bump to pick up the victory.

After Rayburn retired the Dragons in order in the top of the first, the Peebles offense wasted no time in their half, getting to West Union starter Jacob Day for four runs. A Schmus single got things started, followed by base hits by Rayburn and Garrett Shiveley, the later of which brought home the first two Peebles scores. After a walk to Nash Grooms, two more came home on a ground out off the bat of Daniel Clark to make it 4-0.

The Dragons sliced that deficit in half in the top of the second, getting to Rayburn for a pair of runs, a bases loaded walk to Nic Barnett and the second coming home when Jentezen Dryden was hit by a pitch, also with the bases full.

Any momentum that the Dragons may have gained in the top of the second disappeared rapidly in the bottom half when the Indians exploded for eight runs. A combination of five walks, a dropped third strike and two base knocks from Hearlie Schutte, another from Shiveley, and 13 batters going to the plate left the home team with a commanding 12 -2 advantage after just two frames.

West Union got two back in the top of the third, getting a steal off home by Day and a run-scoring ground out by Tyren Pennington, but the Indians struck right back with a three-spot in the bottom of the third. The first two came home on a Dragons’ error and the third when Grooms raced across on a wild pitch by West Union reliever Jase Morgan.

The final Peebles run of the day came in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Bo Johnson and in the top of the fifth, facing run-rule elimination, the Dragons could only score once off of Schmus, pitching in relief for the Tribe. The final out came on a strikeout of Barnett and the Indians had claimed their first conference win of 2025, by the 16-5 final count.

Besides the three-hit day for Lukas Schmus, the Indians also got two hits each from Brandon Rayburn, Hearlie Schutte and Garrett Shiveley and Rayburn got the win with his four innings on the mound, allowing four hits and striking out five.

The West Union offense managed just five hits, getting two-hit days from Nate Fooce and Jase Morgan, with the fifth coming from Jacob Day. Day had a rough outing on the mound taking the loss after giving up 12 runs in 1.2 innings, but with only four of those being earned. The loss left the Dragons at 2-4 on the spring, 1-1 in the SHAC.

The Indians came back on Friday and picked up another conference win and improved their overall record to 2-3 (2-2 SHAC), traveling to Ripley and knocking off the Blue Jays by a final score of 4-1. Again, it was Rayburn getting the win, tossing 5.2 innings and allowing just one hit and one run.

West Union

022 01 —5

Peebles

483 1x —16

W. Union Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Barnett 2-0-0-1, Byron 3-0-0-0, Davis 1-0-0-0, Day 2-2-1-0, Dryden 2-0-0-1, Ferguson 2-0-0-0, Fooce 3-1-2-0, Morgan 2-2-2-0, Pennington 2-0-0-1, Team 19-5-5-3.

Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Clark 2-1-0-1, Grooms 1-3-0-0, Johnson 3-1-1-1, Rayburn 4-2-2-0, Schmus 3-3-2-0, Schutte 3-3-2-2, Shiveley 3-2-2-2, B. Shoemaker 2-1-0-0, L. Shoemaker 2-0-0-0, Team 23-16-9-6.

W. Union Pitching:

Day (L)- 1.2 IP, 6 H, 12 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 6 K. 73 pitches

Morgan- 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 40 pitches

Byron- 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 16 pitches

Peebles Pitching:

Rayburn (W)- 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 69 pitches

Schmus- 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 20 pitches