Timely hitting pushes Buckeye Central past Bucyrus, 6-4
NEW WASHINGTON – With games nearly every day for the next two weeks, pitching length is premium.
Buckeye Central’s Austin Lutz and Bucyrus’ Gavin Lewis gave their respective coaches just that, with each going the distance and logging over 100 pitches.
Lutz was just a couple pitches better than Lewis and got timely hitting from his teammates, leading the Bucks to a 6-4 win over the Redmen in a Northern 10 Conference game.
“We did a better job of getting timely hits and we got some runners on,” Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said. “We put the bat on the ball and made them make plays.”
It wasn’t just the base hits that made the difference. Buckeye Central (6-11, 5-7 N10) was able to score runs with outs and patience. The Bucks had two sacrifices that batted in runs and walked 12 times.
Bucyrus (7-9, 5-6) scored early but missed chances to push across more runs, which came back to haunt the Redmen.
Keegan Sims singled with two outs in the first, stole second and scored on a single by Lewis. Then, the first four hitters reached in the second on a hit batter, two walks and an RBI single by Keith Smith.
But with the bases still loaded and none out, Lutz buckled down and struck out the next three batters to limit the damage.
“That’s the one stat of ours that I’m not proud of: our batting average with the bases loaded,” Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said. “We haven’t fared well with the bases loaded. We strike out a lot.”
The Bucks batter around in the bottom of the second, scoring three, to take a 3-2 lead. Jacob Shade and Seth Parsons each singled in the frame. Tanner Zaebst drove in one with a bases loaded walk and Grant Loy had a sacrifice fly.
Buckeye Central never trailed again, though the Redmen tied it at 3-3 with a run in the fourth on a Smith single and an error. BC answered with two in the bottom of the fourth and Lutz made it stand up.
“Our senior (pithcer) is the leader of our team,” Jensen said. “He wanted the ball. He battled out there.”
Lutz fanned 12, walked three and hit a batter, while giving up six hits. Shade and Parsons had six of the Bucks’ seven hits. Trent Craft had the other.
Lewis struck out seven, walked six and hit two batters. Cole Hollis doubled and singled and Smith had two singles.
“I don’t think either pitcher was sharp, they didn’t bring their ‘A’ game,” Maudsley said. “Especially Gavin. He struggled with his control.”
“We’re improving every game,” Jensen said. “We do something better every game, win or lose.”
dmessers@gannett.com
Twitter: @TF_Schmidt
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