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Shawnee rolls over Riders |
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
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By BRIAN SMITH
Sports Editor
Shawnee baseball coach Chad Spencer hasn’t had much to complain about this season. His team has 19 wins and only one loss in the Western Buckeye League.
Clutch hitting might have been one of those few complaints going into Tuesday.
Complaint noted and rectified.
The Indians scored eight of their ten runs with two outs as the St. Marys baseball team fell to Shawnee 10-0 in five innings at K.C. Geiger Park on Tuesday in Western Buckeye League action.
“It’s about time,” Shawnee coach Chad Spencer said, laughing. “It’s every coach’s dream to get that kind of hitting with two outs.”
The Indians keep their hopes of a share of the WBL title alive, moving to 6-1 in the league. That’s one game behind still-unbeaten Defiance, who is 8-0 in the league with just one more game against Kenton next Thursday standing between the Bulldogs and the title.
St. Marys dropped to 9-12 on the season, 4-3 in the WBL.
Shawnee kept its title hopes on the left arm of Cody Kopilchack and the bat of Kyle Strawn.
Kopilchack worked five near flawless innings, striking out nine of the 18 batters he faced. Kopilchack surrendered just one hit and only Aaron Homan reached second base all game in the third inning.
“Cody hadn’t worked in about one week because of rainouts,” Spencer said. “So we wanted to let him get his work in. He threw pretty well — well enough to keep the ball in play.”
Strawn belted a three-run two-out home run over the left field fence off Roughrider starting pitcher Sam Rammel in the second inning.
A walk to Keith Hefner extended that inning to set up the home run. An inning earlier, a pair of walks extended the top of the first before Tyler Galant hit a two-run single.
“Sam couldn’t get his breaking ball over,” St. Marys coach Dennis Pfeffenberger said. “So he had to throw fastballs over the plate and they hit them.”
Rammel went three and two-thirds innings and surrendered five walks. All those walks came back around to score.
While the Shawnee offense rallied with two outs, St. Marys was shut out for the second straight game.
“We’re in a bit of a downward slide offensively to end the season,” Pfeffenberger said. “Guys are starting to press.”
St. Marys will travel to Marion Local on Thursday and then begin its tournament journey with an opening game against Celina on Saturday at Elida.
Shawnee has a bye and will play the winner of the Wapakoneta-Elida game on Saturday.
Shawnee scored a pair of runs in the first on a two-run single by Tyler Galant.
Codie Roberts singled in the game’s third run in the second before Strawn hit his home run.
Shawnee added four more in the fourth with RBI hits by Kopilchack, Luke Poorman and Roberts.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 May 2008 )
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