In sports, baseball particularly, it’s imperative to maintain a day-by-day approach when trying to bounce back from a rough stretch. You can only win one game a day. Well, that’s usually the case.
Finishing up a doubleheader with Xenia at Bob Wren Stadium on Thursday, Southern Ohio utterly dominated the Scouts (10-11) en route to an easy 8-4 victory to secure the doubleheader sweep and inch that much closer up the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL) standings.
For the second time in the same day, the Copperheads (8-10) had its starter go for an abbreviated complete game. This time, Matthew Blanchard took the mound and went all seven innings, allowing seven hits and four runs, three of them coming in the final inning when the ‘Cheads had a significant lead.
“Like I’ve preached 100 times in these interviews... pitching. If you fill up the strike zone and have a defense as good as ours, you’re more often than not going to get an out,” Rocky Brunty, the head coach of Southern Ohio said with a large smile draped across his face when asked about the pitching performances on the day. “When your pitchers do that, it puts you in great spots.”
With a full slate of games coming up this weekend, needing just two arms to go 14 innings on the day is invaluable, giving Southern Ohio a full stable of pitchers ready for the weekend.
“It’s big. We talked about that and we’ve got everyone available but two,” Brunty said with a huge sigh, realizing the importance of having the extra arms this weekend. “When you can come in to a series with 11 fresh pitchers, you’re in pretty good shape.”
Also for the second time in the day, Southern Ohio needed just five hits to supplement the offensive explosion. Max Orozco shined in his summer debut for the team, going 2-4 at the plate with an RBI. Gavyn Smith picked up an RBI and a run on one hit while Charlie Longmeier and Aiden Dunlap each recorded a hit and a run scored. Case Sullivan also drove in a pair of runs in the win.
Despite the final score, things started to get tense at Bob Wren following the first few moments of the game. The Copperheads fell in a quick hole originally in the top of the first when a sacrifice fly from Xenia brought in the first run of the night.
Facing a deficit for the first time in the day, Southern Ohio responded in a big way. Taking advantage of a ton of miscues from the Scouts on the mound, the Copperheads needed just one hit in the bottom of the fifth.
Smith brought in the tying run with a one-out RBI double before a fielder’s choice groundout off the bat of Sullivan brought in Pauly Mancino to take a lead. A few batters later, Orozco pulled a two-run single into right field with the bases loaded but an errant throw in from the outfield allowed Michael Budorick to come in with a third run, making it 5-1.
Southern Ohio went on to tack one run in each of the next three innings to help continue to build the lead. Sullivan brought in his second run of the night with a sacrifice fly in the third before some antics in the fourth. After reaching second base, Joey Canzoni moved over to third on a wild pitch but noticing the lackadaisical effort from Xenia he ended up rounding third to score on the same pitch.
One inning later, Mancino scored his second run of the night on a passed ball to increase the lead to seven at the time.
Blanchard faltered slightly in the top of the seventh but with such a great lead already in place, the three runs he allowed in the frame never really put any worries in the dugout or stands. The righty eventually settled down, securing the final outs to finish off a successful day for Southern Ohio.
“We clicked good today, the energy in the dugout was really fantastic. Hopefully they build on this and believe in themselves. We’ll keep on rolling.”
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