By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — It was a busy few days at Sater Heights Park. On June 28, the Arcanum ACME baseball team won 8-7 over the Greenville Sr. ACME team.

Greenville raced out to a 7-1 lead after four innings. Issac Kerg drove in the first two runs in the bottom of the second inning. The team did score a few more runs on wild pitches. In the fourth, Layne Hocker drove in a run and Drew Hamilton also drove in a run. Hamilton had two hits in the game that went up against the outfield wall for extra bases.

Then in the top of the fifth, Arcanum scored five runs with two outs. Caleb Burke drove in two runs and then the bases were loaded shortly after. Ethan Kearney cleared the bases with a triple to pull within one run of Greenville.

Coach Lane Byrne said the team all summer long has found ways to get back into games when they’re down. After scoring a run in the sixth to tie the game, Kearney drove in the eventual game-winning run in the seventh.

“This team never hangs their head, they never quit. Started off slow, a lot of mental mistakes but come the fourth, fifth and sixth inning they find a way to shut it down and clean it up,” Byrne said.

Greenville head coach Ryan Delk said the team had to play a complete seven innings to win the game instead of going into cruise control once they got a big lead. Arcanum took advantage of their scoring opportunities late to make Greenville pay.

“They’re a great group of young men. They play hard, they love the game of baseball. Sometimes, the game of baseball doesn’t love you back. That’s kind of what happened tonight,” Delk said.

But, Greenville did have some momentum heading into the bottom of the seventh. The defense stepped up and got a triple play to end the inning. Delk said it was his first triple play coaching and the team played it perfectly.

But, Kolin Frazee shut down Greenville to get the win. Byrne said even after hitting into the triple play, Frazee stayed composed to get the final three outs.

On June 29, Greenville American Legion Post 140 18U defeated Piqua Post 184, 12-0. The Greenville lineup was rewarded for their patience at the plate. The team scored nine runs by drawing walks.

Head coach Chad Henry said even for a younger team, their hitting mentality has been good this season. They make the most of their at bats.

“If you look at our stats for the year, we’re five or six per at bat. We look really good. We knew at some point it that would turn around. June was a little rough, but this last week we really been turning it around. We’ve beaten some really good teams,” Henry said.

Bryce Blumenstock drove in two runs and Kaeden Lipps also drove in a run.

Alex Kolb pitched all five innings for Greenville and allowed very few baserunners all game long. Henry said whenever they have a chance to at a home game, they give Kolb the chance to pitch some innings while on his summer break from college.

“It’s been nice to have Kolb come out here and it helps our pitching staff. We had one pitcher throwing in the bullpen tonight to make sure he would get his regular work,” Henry said. “Playing the schedule we have, we had a lot of guys get a lot of innings. It’s nice for Kolb to come in and spell us a little bit.”

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]