By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the high school baseball games from April 15 – 17.

Ansonia (3-6, 2-2) vs Versailles (8-3, 1-0)

VERSAILLES — The battle of the Tigers took place on April 15 at Versailles. Versailles fell behind early, but put up four runs in the sixth inning to grab the win at home.

Versailles head coach Brad Koopman said the team has played in games, like this one, where they struggle at the plate until they can find their footing and get themselves back into a game.

“One of the characteristics these guys have had so far this year is they haven’t given up. We were down four twice to Fort Loramie this weekend and battled back to tie the game or take the lead,” Koopman said. “There’s not a lot of quit in them. They figure a way to scrap and fight for it, whether it’s beating a ball out or changing their approach to the at bat and making the adjustment.”

This was Ansonia’s first game in about nine days. They last played against Fort Recovery on April 6. Ansonia head coach Dustin Hecht said despite not being able to practice outside, the team was a few plays away from making it a different game.

“Coming out and competing with a really good Versailles team, really happy with where we were. Couple of plays here and there, could have been a different ball game for us,” Hecht said. “But, we came out and competed. That’s exactly what I wanted to see us do today.”

It was a 1-1 game after two innings. Ansonia senior Nick Burns walked and came around to score on an error in the first inning while Versailles junior Jace Watren tied the game in the second inning with a RBI double.

Ansonia senior Trevor Hemmerich and freshman Lander Shives both drove in a run in the third inning to give Ansonia a 3-1 lead. Versailles had bases loaded in the bottom of the third, but only scored one run on a walk by senior Lane Bergman.

All game long both teams made plays in the field to limit base runners and prevented some runs. Hecht said for his team, they’ve told them to be a bit more aggressive on defense. Outfielders like sophomore Cainan Robinson and senior Landyn Bowman made some diving plays to get outs. Hecht was thrilled to see his guys give that kind of effort.

“We’ve been on them for a little while like, ‘Hey, pin your ears back and go after a ball.’ Let’s try and make some plays. We played a little conservative sometimes and scared to make a mistake. We’ve been telling them to go out and try to make that play,” Hecht said.

Junior Darby Gilland hit a RBI single and Ansonia lead 4-2 entering the bottom of the fifth inning. Versailles made their move and Bergman tied the game with a two-run double.

The pitching and the defense from Versailles kept them in the game. Koopman said as a coach, all you can ask for from your pitchers is to compete and give the team a chance to win.

“You know your pitchers aren’t going to go out and dominate every game. It would be awesome if they did, but there’s going to be times you got to go out there and compete your butt off. Give yourself a chance to win,” Koopman said.

With two outs and bases loaded, Versailles senior Joel Gehret came through in the clutch and hit a bases-clearing three-run double. Junior Chase Monnin drove in Gehret and Versailles went up 8-4.

Ansonia fought back as best they could in the seventh inning. They had bases loaded with one out. Versailles kept calm and got the final two outs to seal the four-run win.

For Ansonia, Hemmerich pitched five innings and had two strikeouts. Gilland had two strikeouts in one inning pitched. Junior Ross Francis had five strikeouts in three innings pitched for Versailles. Sophomore Owen Mendenhall had four strikeouts in 2.1 innings and Bergman had two strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

Ansonia then lost a close game at Newton, 4-3. Senior Keegen Weiss drove in a run and had five strikeouts in five innings of work.

Versailles won a close game, 7-6, at Minster. A five-run sixth inning gave them a 7-3 lead heading into the final parts of the game. Gehret had two RBI with five more players driving in a run. Senior AJ Griesdorn pitched 5.2 innings and had eight strikeouts. Junior Ben Subler had four strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched.

Ansonia will host Tri-Village on April 20 at noon. They will then play at Marion Local on April 22 and at Preble Shawnee on April 23 both starting at 5 p.m.

Versailles will host Northmont for a double header on April 20 starting at 11 a.m. They will then host Celina on April 22 and host Coldwater on April 23 with both games starting at 5 p.m.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Franklin Monroe (4-5, 1-2)

LEWISBURG — The Jets started the week with a 13-2 loss to New Bremen at Wright State University. Junior Ty Riffle and sophomore Madex Skidmore both had a RBI. Sophomore Brandt Filbrun pitched 4.2 innings and had two strikeouts.

The team then lost 12-2 at Tri-County North on April 16. Head coach Tyler Zimmerman said TCN played a great game and put the pressure on his young team to make plays.

“They (TCN) played great. They made the plays defensively, hit the ball hard, put it in play and put pressure on us. We didn’t respond well. But, they hit the ball great tonight. We didn’t play the defense behind them to back it up,” Zimmerman said.

The Panthers led 5-0 after three innings. Junior Braylen Keener hit a three-run home run for the Panthers in the second inning.

Franklin Monroe showed some fight in the fourth inning as junior Josh Armstrong drove in a run to make it 5-1. TCN came back in the fifth inning and scored three more runs.

Zimmerman said the team has struggled to string together quality at bats. That has limited the team’s ability to consistently score runs. They also are going through some growing pains with a young team.

“It’s small things. We get that one run, but then we run ourselves out of the inning at the same time. You see the start to improve and then we take that step back,” Zimmerman said.

Filbrun drove in a run with a RBI double in the sixth inning to make it an 8-2 game. But, the Panthers came out in the sixth inning and scored four more runs to give them the run-rule win.

Junior Chase Stebbins had five strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.

Franklin Monroe will be at Milton Union on April 20 for a double header starting at 11 a.m. They will be at Houston on April 22 and at Tri-Village for a 5 p.m. first pitch.

Around the county:

Arcanum (6-6, 3-1)

The Trojans started the week with a 14-13 home loss to Minster on April 15. Arcanum led 10-4 after the first inning, but Minster scored eight runs in the final two innings to grab the win. Sophomore Bryce Kramer had three RBI. Sophomore Regan Christ and freshman Luke Stephens each had two RBI. The team bounced back with an 8-7 win in extra innings over National Trail at home. Sophomore Kolton Quigney had two RBI. Kramer, junior Seth Fearon and freshman Lucas Miller each drove in a run. Miller pitched five innings and had seven strikeouts. Sophomore Ethan Kearney and sophomore Regan Christ both had four strikeouts. Kearney pitched 3.1 innings and Christ pitched 1.2 innings. Arcanum will host Preble Shawnee on April 22 and head to Twin Valley South on April 23 with both games starting at 5 p.m.

Bradford (6-3, 3-0)

The Railroaders won 13-4 at home over Preble Shawnee. After a 4-4 tie after the top of the third inning, Bradford scored nine runs across the next four innings. Senior Tucker Miller had three RBI and senior Landon Wills had two RBI. Five more players drove in a run. Junior Owen Canan had five strikeouts in four innings pitched. Junior Treyl Manuel had three strikeouts in three innings pitched. Bradford will host Northridge on April 20 for a double header starting at 10 a.m. They will then go to Troy Christian on April 22 at 5 p.m.

Greenville (5-7, 3-6)

The Green Wave lost three straight early in the week. They lost 11-4 at home to Xenia on April 15. Junior Owen McGreevey had two RBI in the game. Junior Braeden Wills struck out two in 3.1 innings pitched. They then lost 6-0 at Xenia the next day. Junior Adam Edwards had a hit for Greenville. Junior Carson Good had two strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched. The Green Wave went back home on April 17 and lost 6-4 to Piqua. McGreevey had three RBI in the game. Freshman Cole Oswalt had a RBI as well. Edwards pitched seven innings and had six strikeouts. Greenville will play at Chaminade Julienne on April 20 at noon. They will play at West Carrollton on April 22 at 4:45 p.m. They will host Eaton on April 23 and host West Carrollton on April 24 with both games starting at 5 p.m.

Tri-Village (3-4, 0-2)

The Patriots fell to Dixie, 11-1, on April 16. Junior Kaeden Lipps had two hits and junior Lane Bierly had a hit. Sophomore Jaiden Beam had three strikeouts in four innings pitched. Tri-Village will be at Ansonia on April 20 at noon. They will then host Milton Union on April 22 and host Franklin Monroe on April 23 with games starting at 5 p.m. They will then head to Tri-County North on April 24 at 5 p.m.

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