HIGH SCHOOL

Pleasant booted by well-rounded Alexander club

Denny McPherson
Reporter

CHILLICOTHE Pleasant's baseball season ended with a thud Thursday against a well-rounded Albany Alexander team.

"They beat us in all facets of the game," Pleasant coach Chris Kubbs said following a 12-2 Division III regional semifinal loss in Chillicothe's VA Memorial Stadium. "They pitched well, hit well and played a fine defensive game."

Zac Smith tossed a complete game for Alexander's Spartans, striking out six, walking three, and allowing eight hits.

Alexander (25-4) smacked 15 hits in the contest, six of them in a five-run third inning which put the Athens County squad out in front 6-0.

Defensively, Alexander made many fine extra-effort plays and played error-free ball.

But it was those Spartans' hitting which impressed Kubbs the most.

"They had too much offense for us," he said. "That was very evident from what we saw in their district final, that they can flat hit a baseball. I was hoping for a fly ball here and there, but they hit line drives and BBs."

An error early in the third inning helped to produce Alexander's key outburst.

"I thought we could keep it a tight game, but mistakes in critical situations led to crooked runs," Kubbs said.

Pleasant (20-10) trailed 1-0 five pitches into the contest and was in a tight game until the third inning.

Alexander added two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one more in the seventh.

Leadoff man Lukas Thompson smacked four hits to lead the winning Spartans while teammate Chase Harris swatted two singles and a double and paced the victors in RBIs with four.

Down 8-0 in the home fourth, Pleasant came off the mat to produce its two runs.

Pleasant, held hitless through the first three and one-third innings, erupted for five hits in the fourth inning but lost two base runners in the process.

Kyle Galyk clubbed a screamer up the middle for Pleasant's initial base rap with one out in the fourth. Anson James followed with a single, but he was thrown out at second trying to advance as Galyk took third.

Galyk came home as Caden Lawrence beat out an infield hit, and Tyler Axline doubled to make the tally 8-2, Alexander.

Axline, however, was tossed out at the plate by the Alexander right fielder following a Bryce Pytlarz single to end the threat.

Pleasant starting pitcher Zach Pytlarz (11-2) had a fine tourney run end. He allowed seven hits, six runs and two walks in 2 1/3 innings with one strikeout. Bryce McDonald, Galyk and Matt Gabriel all hurled in relief.

Zach Pytlarz, Gabriel, Galyk, James, Lawrence, Bryce Pytlarz and Cole Marvin each hit a single for Pleasant while Axline doubled.

The loss concluded a season in which Pleasant won a co-championship of the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference Red Division and its seventh Central District title in the last 15 years.

"It's been a nice run," Kubb said. "We got down to the Sweet 16, and there, anything can happen. The kids had a great year, and what they did this year was an outstanding accomplishment.

"We also had an outstanding group of parents which did a lot of things to bring the love of the game back to Pleasant. We had struggled with that in the past couple of years."

dmcphers@nncogannett.com

740-375-5158

Twitter: @starsportsdenny