It was a battle of the top two teams in the Frontier Athletic Conference when the Blue Lions of Washington High School welcomed their Fayette County rivals Miami Trace to town for a varsity baseball game on a beautiful Friday the 13th.
The Panthers took a 6-0 lead and were able to withstand a rally by the Blue Lions to take a 6-4 win.
Miami Trace is now one-half game ahead of Washington for first place in the FAC at 4-1. The Panthers are 8-2 overall.
Washington is now 3-1 in the FAC with a suspended game against Chillicothe to be concluded when the Cavs come to town next Wednesday afternoon.
Darby Tyree started and pitched a complete game for the victory for the Panthers. He allowed nine hits and four runs (three earned) with eight strikeouts and no walks.
Kenny Arboleda started and worked six innings for the Blue Lions, suffering the loss. He allowed five hits and six runs (two earned) with five strikeouts and five walks.
Austin Joseph pitched one scoreless, hit-less inning with two strikeouts and one walk.
”A week and a half ago, we thought Darby might be done for the year,” Miami Trace head coach Rob Smith said. “We found out it was just a little soreness in his forearm. So, he rehabbed it for a few days and he pitched a very good game this evening.
“Court House can hit the baseball,” Smith said. “When he left it up in the zone, they took advantage of it. We only made one error the whole game. You keep the ball down and play good defense; it was a good baseball game.”
Smith spoke about the FAC and the calibre of its baseball teams.
“I don’t see any world-beaters,” Smith said. “We’re all trying to find ourselves. Anybody on a given night can beat a good team. I was very impressed with Jackson and going into tonight, they were 0-4 in the league. Everybody’s comparable.”
“Both teams had their aces on the mound today,” Washington head coach Mark Schwartz said. “Unfortunately, we had a bad second inning. We didn’t come out focused and I’ll take the blame for that.
“We battled back and made it close,” Schwartz said. “We had a chance, but, tip your hat to Miami Trace; they came ready to play.”
The Panthers got the scoring underway in the top of the second inning before a large crowd.
Austin Mathews walked and stole second.
Gavin Taulbee walked and Dalton Mayer singled to right field, loading the bases.
An infield single by Josh Gilmore scored Mathews.
Drew Batson then walked, forcing in Taulbee to make it 2-0, Panthers.
Heath Cockerill then hit a double, scoring Mayer, Gilmore and Batson to make it 5-0.
The Panthers scored what turned out to be their final run of the game in the top of the fourth.
Gilmore led off with a single and stole second.
He went to third on a ground out by Brady Wallace and scored on a sacrifice fly by Drew Batson.
The Blue Lions got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Tyler Rood hit a triple and scored on a single by Kenny Arobleda.
Washington scored twice more in the fifth.
Ryan Schwartz hit a double and Jarred Hall was hit by a pitch.
Eli Ruth singled, scoring Schwartz. Hall also scored in the inning.
In the sixth, Arboleda led off with a double, went to third on a ground out by Nick Barrett and scored on a sacrifice fly by Austinn Fore.
Miami Trace is slated to play a doubleheader at Eastern Brown Saturday at 11 a.m.
Washington (5-2 overall) has a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday at home against Westfall beginning at noon.
Offensively for Miami Trace: Brady Wallace, 0-4; Drew Batson, 0-0, 1 run, 2 rbi, 1 sac fly; Cody Brightman, 1-4, roe; Heath Cockerill, 1-3, 3 rbi, 1 bb, 1 2b; Austin Brown, 0-4; Austin Mathews, 0-3, 1 run, 1 bb, fielder’s choice, 1 sb; Gavin Taulbee, 0-3, 1 run, 1 bb; Dalton Mayer, 2-3, 1 run; Josh Gilmore, 1-3, 2 runs, 1 rbi, 1 sb.
Offensively for Washington: George Reno, 0-4, 1 rbi; Eli Ruth, 1-4, 1 rbi; Tyler Rood, 1-3, 1 run, 1 3b; Kenny Arboleda, 2-3, 1 run, 1 2b, 1 rbi; Nick Barrett, 0-3; Austinn Fore, 0-2, 1 rbi, sac fly; Ryan Schwartz, 1-3, 1 2b; Christian Grove, 0-0, 1 run; Jarred hall, 2-3, 1 run; Eli Lynch, 2-3, 1 2b.
RHE
MT 050 100 0 — 6 5 1
W 000 121 0 — 4 9 2
