The top two baseball teams in the Frontier Athletic Conference met Thursday, April 21 at Washington High School.
Washington was 4-0 and Miami Trace was 3-0 coming into the contest.
The Panthers held on against a late rally by the Blue Lions to post a 4-3 victory.
Miami Trace is now 8-0 overall, 4-0 in the FAC.
Washington is now 9-2 overall, 4-1 in the conference.
The win was the 400th career coaching victory for Miami Trace’s Rob Smith.
Conner Bucher started on the mound and got the win for Miami Trace.
He pitched six innings with six hits and three runs (all earned). He walked seven and struck out 11.
Brady Armstrong got the save for the Panthers, pitching one inning with one hit allowed.
Titus Lotz started and took the loss for the Blue Lions. He pitched 4.1 innings with seven hits and four runs (three earned) with one walk and seven strikeouts.
A.J. Dallmayer pitched 2.2 innings with two hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
Washington got on the board with a run in the bottom of the first inning.
The Panthers scored twice in the third and put two more runs on the board in the fifth.
Washington scored one run in the sixth and one in the seventh. The game ended with the Blue Lions having the tying run at second base.
For Washington, John Wall went 2 for 3 with a walk.
Tyler Tackage was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.
Tanner Lemaster hit a double, Bryce Yeazel hit a double and Will Miller had a single for Washington.
Lotz, R.J. Foose and Yeazel scored for Washington.
For the Panthers, Dillon Hyer went 2 for 3 and scored two runs.
Bucher went 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run scored.
Gabe Campagna was 2 for 3; Gaige Stuckey had one hit and scored one run; Wes May was 1 for 3 and Ashton Connell was 1 for 4.
“With three league games in a row and we had to use two pitchers last night (in a 3-2, 12 inning victory at Hillsboro),” Smith said. “You have to give Brady Armstrong credit (for saving the game for the Panthers).
“Court House and Trace is just like Michigan and Ohio State,” Smith said. “It’s intense. They have a very good team. We had only played seven games.
“Our kids hit the ball well tonight against a kid (Titus Lotz) who’s going to go to Bowling Green,” Smith said. “He’s one of the top pitchers in the state. My kids came out and did what they were supposed to. We have Jackson (at home) tomorrow, so, it doesn’t get any easier.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Smith said. “They came here ready to play. Court House was coming off a big victory against the No. 2 team in the state (Jackson, which was undefeated prior to playing the Blue Lions). Mark (head coach Schwartz) has them playing great.” Washington beat Jackson 4-3 Wednesday, April 20 in eight innings.
“Both teams tonight are very good baseball teams,” Smith said. “I’m just proud of my kids.
“When you watch a game like this, you have to give credit to Fayette County,” Smith said. “A lot of times the smaller towns don’t get credit for the kind of baseball that’s in this area.
“I think about my dad and my brother when things get intense and it relaxes me,” Smith said.
Smith was asked about reaching the 400-win milestone as a head coach.
“I didn’t win any of them,” Smith said. “If you don’t have good ball players and good kids, I mean, they make a coach look good.”
“Titus threw strikes today,” Schwartz said. “We just didn’t make plays defensively in certain situations and that cost us.
“Offensively, we didn’t execute when we had runners in scoring position,” Schwartz said. “We didn’t hustle a couple of times. In a one-run game, it’s the little things. We talk about the little things all year and how we have to be good at those. Tonight we weren’t good at it and we lost by one run.
“Conner Bucher is the reigning FAC Player of the Year,” Schwartz said. “He’s a great pitcher. He’s going to play college baseball. Hats off to him. Then Armstrong came in and did his job. That’s a good team and in our league, you have to come ready to play every night.
“We got a big win last night at Jackson and we were hoping to build on it tonight and unfortunately it didn’t happen,” Schwartz said. “We’ll come back (Friday) at Greenfield and hopefully have a better result.”
Offensively for Miami Trace: Gaige Stuckey, 1-3, 1 run, 1 bb; Dillon Hyer, 2-3, 2 runs, hbp; Conner Bucher, 2-3, 1 run, 1 rbi, 1 bb; Cole Little, 0-3; Garrett Zimmerman, 0-1; Gabe Campagna, 2-3, 1 rbi, 1 bb; Tate Landrum, 0-0; Garrett Payton, 0-0, 1 sb; Wes May, 1-3, 1 sb, 1 sac; Brady Armstrong, 0-3; Justin Robinson, 0-1; Ashton Connell, 1-4, 1 sb; Austin Boedecker, 0-3. LOB: 10.
Offensively for Washington: John Wall, 2-3, 1 bb; Blayne Hurles, 0-0; A.J. Dallmayer, 0-2, 1 rbi, 2 bb; Titus Lotz, 0-3, 1 run, 1 bb; Tanner Lemaster, 1-3, 1 bb, 1 2b; R.J. Foose, 0-0, 1 run; Tyler Tackage, 2-4, 2 rbi; Jack Mead, 0-4; Bryce Yeazel, 1-4, 1 run, 1 2b; Will Miller 1-4; Evan Lynch, 0-1, 2 bb. LOB: 11.
RHE
MT 002 020 0 — 4 9 0
W 100 001 1 — 3 7 2
