Raiders fall, but get piece of league title

advertisements

Benjamin Logan’s baseball team came up on the losing end at Tippecanoe on Monday, but the day ended with some good news for the Raiders.

Despite the 5-1 loss to the Red Devils, the Raiders clinched a share of the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division title after Northwestern lost to Kenton Ridge.

Ben Logan (15-8 overall, 10-5 in the CBC) has a one-game lead over Northwestern with one league game remaining. The Raiders can win the outright title Friday at home against Springfield Shawnee.

Tipp City improves to 18-9, 14-2.

“It was a bittersweet day,” said Ben Logan head coach Doug Rutan. “Although we lost, we played well and then we found out we had at least a share of the league title. That softened the loss a little bit and made the bus ride home a little more enjoyable.”

The league title is the second straight for the Raiders.

“In nine years as a head coach, I’ve been a part of five league titles and this one is by far the most satisfying,” said Rutan. “This group of kids had to go through a lot this year. We lost pretty much our entire pitching staff from last year. To be able to still win a league title says a lot about these kids and their character.”

The Raiders had six hits against the Red Devils. Lee Kerns, Jeremiah Kerns and Gage Cochran each had doubles to lead Ben Logan at the plate.

Ben Logan begins tournament play today at home against Indian Lake.

TIPP CITY 5 — BEN LOGAN 1
Raiders 000 100 0 — 1 6 1 — Red Devils 011 102 0 — 5 8 0
L. Kerns, Stover (6), Rodenberger (6) and Barnes; Johnson and Krall. WP—Johnson; LP—L. Kerns.

Chiefs shut out Greenon

Bellefontaine received a one-hitter from Brock Mitchell to blank visiting Greenon 10-0 in five innings Monday in a Central Buckeye Conference baseball game.

The win improves the Chiefs to 13-8, 9-6.

Mitchell struck out six and did not walk a batter.

“Brock really threw the ball well,” said Bellefontaine head coach Mark Brunswick. “Early in the year we missed some weekend games and were not able to get him as many innings, but he is going to be a good pitcher for us down the road.”

The Chiefs collected 12 hits against the Knights.

Josh Kauffman was 2-3 with a home run and T.J. Garman also had a home run to spark the Chiefs at the plate.

Also having big offensive games for the Chiefs were Zach Mosbarger, Mark Duffy and Austen Pulfer each 2-3, and Cody Mehl and Brandon Winter, who each had doubles.

Bellefontaine opens up tournament play today at home against Milton-Union.

BELLEFONTAINE 10 — GREENON 0 (five innings)
Knights 000 00 — 0 1 2 — Chiefs 421 03 — 10 12 0
Steiner and Pennington; Mitchell and Skelly. WP— Mitchell; LP—Steiner.

Tigers ground Falcons

Host West Liberty-Salem tuned up for tournament play with a 13-5 non-league win over Graham on Monday.

The win improves the Tigers to 20-5 on the season. This is the sixth straight season the Tigers have won at least 20 games.

“I think it shows that the kids want to work hard and they consistently do the things we ask them to do,” said WL-Salem head coach Toby Smith of the six straight 20-win seasons.

The Tigers pounded out 13 hits against the Falcons.

“We were very excited about the way we swung the bats,” said Smith.

Blake Wirick belted a grand slam home run and Levi Woodruff was 3-4 with a double and three RBI to power the Tigers’ hitting attack. Levi Reed was 3-3, Greyson Miller was 2-2 with a double and Garrett Dallas added two hits for WL-Salem.

WL-SALEM 13 — GRAHAM 5
Falcons 211 010 0 — 5 5 3 — Tigers 144 211 X — 13 13 3
McMaken, Rogers (3), Zook (4), Stroud (6) and Hanlan. Bahan, Hayes (6), L. Woodruff (7) and Reed. WP—Bahan; LP—McMaken.

Lakers clip Shawnee

Indian Lake gained some momentum going into the tournament with a 2-1 win at Springfield Shawnee on Monday.

The win improves the Lakers to 13-9 overall and 7-8 in the Central Buckeye Conference.

“This is a nice win for us,” said Indian Lake head coach Brian Tidwell. “I believe this is the first time we’ve beat them since we’ve been in the CBC.”

Russ Hogue picked up the win on the mound for the Lakers. Hogue pitched into the seventh inning. He struck out five batters on the day. Michael Morgan came on to get the save.

“Russ did a great job,” said Tidwell. “Out of the 27 batters he faced, he got ahead in the count against 23 of them. When you do that, you have a good chance of being successful.”

Morgan had two hits to lead the Lakers’ offense. D.J. Postle and Derek Welch each added an RBI.

Indian Lake plays at Ben Logan today in a Division II sectional tourney opener.

INDIAN LAKE 2 — SHAWNEE 1
Lakers 110 000 0 — 2 5 2 — Braves 100 000 0 — 1 3 1
Hogue, Morgan (7) and Yanchik; Holt, Howell (2) and May, Hanaway (6). WP—Hogue; LP—Holt.

Cardinals roll past Irish

Triad built an early lead and went on to record a 14-4 win over host Springfield Catholic Central Monday in Ohio Heritage Conference action.

The Cardinals improve to 15-9 on the season.

Triad led 7-2 after three innings.

Brennan Smith led the Cardinal offense, going 2-4 with two double and four RBI.

Also for Triad, Austin Dixon had a triple, Tyler Fisher had a double, Josh Wasmer went 3-3 with two RBI, Tyson Funderburgh had two RBI and Kaleb Deam went 2-3.

Triad hosts Fairlawn today in tournament action.

TRIAD 14 — SCC 4
Cardinals 304 500 2 — 14 12 0 — Irish 200 011 0 — 4 10 4
Creviston, Marenberg(7) and Fisher, Funderburgh (7); Dewitt, Dobbins (5) and Dobbins, Dewitt (5).

Contact | Paper Locations
Copyright © 2008 The Bellefontaine Examiner, Hubbard Publishing