Copperheads fall to Michigan in damp day at the park

The quickly raging thunderstorm that surged through Athens on Sunday evening might’ve been an ominous sign of the entire weekend for Southern Ohio.

Finishing up a series with Michigan (13-17) at home and having to deal with a weather delay just after the start of the game, the Copperheads (13-20) ultimately fell 4-3 late into Sunday night to lose the series with the final weeks of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League coming to a close.

Trenton Neuer led the charge at the plate for the Copperheads, grabbing three of the team’s eight hits while driving in a run. Alejandro Covas smacked a hit and the team’s lone other RBI while Cooper Thompson, Pauly Mancino, Gavyn Smith and Billy Adams each secured one hit apiece.

On the mound, Ben Bates was able to toss nearly seven innings in his outing despite having his rhythm hindered by the weather delay. The righty went 6.2 innings of eight-hit ball, allowing four runs while striking out four and walking one.

A trio of arms then came out of the bullpen to help toss a hitless 2.1 innings the rest of the way. Trey Barkman was the first one out in relief, tossing just over an inning with a pair of strikeouts. Landon Oliver and Zane Loveday both came in for the ninth inning to keep the ‘Cheads in striking distance at the time.

Even before the weather put a stop to action early, Michigan still did enough in the opening moments to grab an initial lead. Four batters into the night, the Monarchs’ Jacob Gumieny drilled a two-run double into the right-center gap to open up a 2-0 lead one out into the contest.

Southern Ohio cut the lead in half just before the delay by scratching out a run in the bottom of the second. Following a leadoff double from Smith to start the half-frame, Neuer eventually brought him in with a single.

Following the delay, things slowed down significantly on the offensive side of the ball but Michigan was still able to bring it back to a two-run game with a fielder’s choice groundout.

Still struggling at the plate, Southern Ohio finally broke through once again in the bottom of the sixth. Adams drilled a two-out, single to bring in one run with Neuer coming up to the plate with the tying-run stranded at third. The outfielder then grounded out to end the opportunity.

Barely getting a second to breathe, Michigan immediately put the deficit back to two in the seventh with another fielder’s choice groundout. Things then started off fantastic in the bottom of the frame with consecutive extra-base hits from Thompson and Covas bringing the deficit back to one with the tying-run now sitting at second with no outs.

The next three Copperheads batters then went down to end the opportunity. The team then went down in order over the final two innings, dropping the heartbreaking contest while having to deal with the weekend sweep.