Bats continue to boom for Whippets Shelby rocks Pleasant 13-3
Daily Globe Sports Editor
“We’re just not quite there yet, we’re not where we need to be,” said Shelby coach Jon Amicone about the play of his defense.
For now, the varsity baseball Whippets have leaned heavily on their bats while the defense continues to round into form.
Wednesday was no different as SHS struck quickly and often.
Marshall Shepherd hammered a tworun homer over the left field fence and Shelby walked off the diamond in the bottom of the fifth inning with a 13-3 Mid Ohio Athletic Conference victory against Marion Pleasant.
The Whippets collected 12 hits during the game, seized a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, stretched it to 11-0 through three innings, survived an error-plagued fourth inning to even their MOAC ledger at 2-2 and their overall mark to 5-2. A day earlier the red and gray outdueled the Spartans 14-7.
“A nice job by our kids after a rough two games against Ontario to come back and hit the baseball and pitch as well as we did,” said Amicone.
Logan Green was a perfect 3 for 3 at the plate to lead the red and gray. Marek Albert and Shepherd were next with two hits apiece. Luke Shepherd ripped a double while singles were off the bats of Blaine Bowman, Jeremy Holloway, Nathan Zehner and Alex Bruskotter.
“Really proud of our guys effort — top to bottom. We’re getting really good production from our lineup,” said Amicone.
Three fielding miscues in the fourth pushed the SHS season total to 19, but the coach is confident that will turn around.
“We pride ourselves on our defense. We spend a lot of time with our defense. We’re just not quite there yet. Our players know that and our coaches know that,” said Amcione. “Tomorrow (Thursday) will be an off day in between games and defense is something we’ll hit hard in practice. We’ll continue to coach it, continue to preach it and eventually
a fist bump with Shelby coach Jon Amicone after blasting a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the fifth inning during the Whippets’ 13-3 win against Marion Pleasant.
get the defense where it needs to be.”
Green went the distance for SHS and limited the visitors to three hits while striking out 10 and walking none. The three runs off him were all unearned.
The Shelby hurler struck out the side to begin the contest and the home team came to bat and racked up four runs and never trailed. With one out, the red and gray put the next three batters
on the bases and Luke Shepherd cleared the sacks with a threerun double. Shepherd then scored on a single through the middle by Bruskotter.
“We did a nice job of jumping on them early. That’s part of our offensive philosophy to score first and extend from there,” said the coach as the hosts tacked on two in the second and five in the third.
Marshall Shepherd’s home run was the fifth
of the season for the red and gray.
When asked about the surge of balls leaving the yard, Amicone said “that represents the quality work by our guys in practice. They want to hit, they like to hit. When they step into the box, it’s go time, and they take it very seriously.”
The Whippets travel to Western Reserve Friday and then host Mansfield Christian Saturday.