Come to a baseball game, you never know what you might see. There might even be a walk-off in the top of the 11th.
After scoring just four runs combined in the first two games of the weekend series, the bats started scoring for Southern Ohio but it ultimately wasn’t enough in a wild, 13-12 extra-innings barnburner classic at Bob Wren Stadium to the Hamilton Joes on Sunday evening.
Winning a coin toss after the 10th inning and deciding to defend during the half-inning sudden death rules that the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League employs, the Copperheads (8-13) saw the walk-off win come across on a dribbler a few feet from the mound as the Joes’ (16-5) runner crossed home plate.
Aside from the 25 runs, the two teams combined for 26 hits in the game.
The Copperheads managed 13 hits as a team with all but one batter recording at least one knock. Trenton Neuer led the charge out of the leadoff spot with a three-hit day, driving in three runs while scoring one. Ben Clark went 2-5 with two RBI and two runs scored while Billy Adams and Alex Ungar also each tallied a pair of hits.
Case Sullivan drove in three runs on one hit Gavyn Smith and Hunter Strong each had a hit and an RBI. Alejandro Covas tallied a hit while Joey Canzoni, the lone batter without a hit, reached base and scored two times.
Tyler Pfirrmann lasted just three innings in his start, allowing five runs on three hits while walking two in the process. Jaren Slusher was the first man to come out of the bullpen, allowing five runs on five hits while walking two and striking out one in his 3.2 innings of work. Landon Oliver allowed one run in just over an inning of action while Eli Laurent tossed the final 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits while being on the mound for the final run.
After playing from behind and struggling at the plate the entire weekend so far, maybe Southern Ohio just needed the home crowd excitement to get the bats going.
The two University of Ohio products in Neuer and Adams both smacked singles to lead off the bottom of the first with Ungar’s scorching hot bat coming up to the plate. The Sacred Heart product proceeded to drop a single into the short outfield, scoring Neuer with the first run of the evening while giving Southern Ohio men on second and third with no outs.
The Copperheads couldn’t muster anything after in the frame, holding a 1-0 lead after one.
There’s a reason why Hamilton currently sits atop the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and the Joes showed why shortly after. Cracking the bats all weekend, Hamilton immediately responded to take the lead.
After runners reached all bases, Ungar made an impressive catch against the wall in right field but that allowed the first run of the frame to come in. Shortly after, some trickery on the basepaths allowed a runner to come in on a delayed steal to make it 2-1.
Scoring for the second straight inning, the Copperheads made quick work to get back to tie this one. Smith first reached base on a walk before eventually stealing second to get in scoring position. One batter later, Clark ripped a run-scoring double down the left field line, making it a 2-2 game at the end of two frames.
Hamilton tacked on another two runs in the top of the third to take another multi-run lead at Bob Wren Stadium. With a wild pitch from Pfirrmann getting a runner in scoring position, the Joes’ Cam Gilkerson broke the tie with an RBI single. Another wild pitch brought the runner over to third before scoring on a fielder’s choice to make it a 4-2 game midway through the third.
Becoming a theme of the day at this point, the Copperheads came right back and made some noise in the bottom of the frame. Loading up the bases, Smith brought in the first run of the inning for the ‘Cheads with an infield hit before Sullivan grabbed an RBI on a bases-juiced walk to tie things up.
One batter later, Neuer drilled a two-run single right back up the middle to make it a 6-4 game. Southern Ohio scored all four runs in the inning with two outs.
To absolutely nobody’s surprise at this point, Hamilton put up a crooked number in response to the Copperheads output. Both Bryce Habuda and Paul Osting parked two-run shots over the right field fence in the top of the fourth to suddenly regain the lead, making it a 8-6 game less than halfway through.
Keeping the same sentiment, most of the crowd at Bob Wren must’ve been expecting an immediate response from the Copperheads after falling down once again. The crowd was not disappointed.
Immediately loading up the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, Canzoni brought in the first run of the inning by drawing a walk before a bloop single just over the outstretched arms of the Joes’ first basemen off the bat of Clark gave Southern Ohio the lead once again. Neuer eventually smacked his second-straight RBI single to cap off a five-run inning, making it an 11-8 score at the end of four innings.
The two teams shockingly stayed scoreless over the next two innings before Hamilton started to make a comeback effort. The Joes ultimately cut the lead down to one in the top of the seventh with the team’s third two-run home run of the night, this time coming off the bat of Tommy Harrison to make it a 11-10 game.
Responding as they have all night, the Copperheads picked up a desperately needed insurance run in the bottom of the frame. A sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of Strong brought in Adams with the 12th run of the night for the ‘Cheads.
It was quickly realized how important that run was with Hamilton bringing in one run in the eighth inning to once again make it a one-run game with the game and sun setting down.
A game full of surprises and wiffle ball scores, there was still time for another jaw-dropping moment. In the top of the ninth, the first two Hamilton batters struck out to give the Joes one final chance. Down to the last strike, Mark Rutherford, out of the nine-hole in the lineup, blasted a game-tying home run to even things up at a dozen apiece.
After failing to score in each of the ninth and 10th, the Copperheads went into a sudden-death half inning.
After a leadoff walk put a runner in scoring position, Hamilton laid down a sacrifice bunt to get a runner over to third with just one out. One batter later, a dribbler off the bat of Cam Gilkerson rolled a few feet away from the plate but a charging Laurent didn’t have time to make the play, spiking the ball into the turf as the Hamilton dugout exploded out to the field.
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