PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Jets advanced in OHSAA D-IV tournament play with a 10-1 win over the Tri-Village Patriots.
“For the second day in a row we were able to pitch well and play good defense,” said Franklin Monroe coach Tyler Rhodus. “At the plate, we were able to get it going offensively vs Tri Village, scoring 10 runs.”
The Jets made the most of three consecutive first inning walks to plate three run in the bottom of the first with Caden Goins, Blake Sease and Tim Lawson all taking a free pass with no outs.
Franklin Monroe pulled off a one-out triple steal with Goins stealing home for the first run of the night, Sease swiping third and Lawson stealing second to put both runners in scoring position setting up a Jarin Young two run double to left sending the game to the second inning with FM leading 3-0.
Neither team would dent the plate in the second but the Jets added a run in the third and two in the fourth to stretch its lead to 6-0 with four innings in the book.
Tri-Village battled back to score a run in the top of the fifth only to have Franklin Monroe plate four runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 10-1 after five in what would be the final score of the game with the Jets advancing in tournament play.
“It is much easier playing with the lead than it is chasing or playing in a 10 inning thriller like we did night before,” Rhodus said of the 1-0, 10-inning tournament win over Emmanuel Christian.
Sease earned the win on the mound for the Jets surrendering one run on five hits over six innings, striking out five while not allowing a walk.
“Blake Sease started on the mound for us and had a no hitter going through 4 innings,” noted Rhodus. “Blake did a really nice job of locating his pitches and I thought his fastball had good movement tonight. Blake does a really good job of being able to work the strike zone both east and west and north and south. Blake threw six complete innings giving up just one run.”
“Tim Lawson came in and threw the seventh inning – striking out two,” Rhodus added. “Defensively we were strong for the second game in a row, committing two errors, one of which was on a bad hop.”
For the Jets, Jarin Young went 2-3 including a double and 3-RBIs, Tim Lawson was 2-2 including a double, 2-RBIs and 2-runs scored and Blake Sease was 2-3 including a double, 2-RBIs and 2-runs scored to lead FM at the plate.
“We were disciplined at the plate,” stated Rhodus. “We took advantage of being in hitters counts and driving the baseball. We also made some nice adjustments as the game went on.”
“Tim Lawson seems to be heating up at the plate at the right time,” continued Rhodus. “He hit two balls that one hopped the fence, had a sac fly, drew a walk, and had 2-RBIs. Jarin Young also had a really nice night at the plate with two hits and 3-RBIs. I think Jarin’s double in the first inning, scoring two runs really set the tone for the night.”
McCombs paced Tri-Village going 2-3 at the plate.
“Overall, we have played pretty good baseball back-to-back nights vs two good teams,” Rhodus said. “I have a lot of respect for what Rick is doing at Emmanuel Christian and for Coach Maples at TV. Those guys have been around the game a long time and know how the game is supposed to be played.”
