The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bad start spells doom for Lorain County
Errors open door for six runs, comeback falls short
After an hour and a half rain delay from a downpour, Lorain County took to its field looking to earn their second win of the season against the Galion Graders in the first game of a twin bill on June 14 at The Pipe Yard in Lorain.
Unfortunately for the Ironmen
(1-4), their patience was rewarded with a rude awakening in the first few innings, as the Graders (3-1) came out with thunderous bats, racking up consecutive hits paired with a couple of Ironmen errors.
The fast start helped the Graders jump out to a 6-0 lead
in the second inning. The fiverun inning proved to be the difference as they held off the Ironmen’s late inning surge, 10-8, in seven innings.
“Well pretty much, we just shot ourselves in the foot. Missed a ball over the cut-off, missed a ball over to first base, that was four or five runs right there,” Lorain County manager Kevin Whiteside said.
As they have all season, the Ironmen found themselves experiencing first inning woes as the Graders’ Joe Crank scored on an infield error, giving Galion an early 1-0 lead.
The early run seemed to fuel the visitors, as they exploded for five runs in the second in-
ning. In the barrage, Grant Fuller notched his first hit of the season for the Graders with an RBI single. Crank followed that with an RBI single of his own as Galion stretched the lead to 3-0.
The Graders tacked on three more runs via a wild pitch by the Ironmen’s Tyler Gault and an errant throw from the outfield.
Just like that it was 6-0, Galion.
Off to another rough start, the Ironmen offense was gifted with an errant throw to first base, allowing Dominic Mittiga to score, cutting Galion’s lead to 6-1.
In the top of the fourth, Crank made his way home yet again, this time off an Austin Hathaway RBI single as the Graders upped the lead to 7-1.
It was a tough night for Lorain County’s Gault as he went four innings, allowing seven runs, six earned, off eight hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
Meanwhile, Galion’s Hyatt Shenefield was in a groove early on, taking a no-hitter into the fourth inning.
The Graders tacked on another three runs, making it a 10-1 game, a seemingly insurmountable task as night began to fall.
But something seemed to click within the Ironmen dugout, as they answered a three-run Grader fifth inning with three runs of their own.
The Graders sent on Jordan Peck in relief, but relief was the exact opposite of what they got.
The rally began with a Chase Knodle two out, two-RBI triple, as he capitalized on a Graders gamble in right field with a sliding attempt into a puddle that came up just short, allowing Knodle to scamper all the way to third.
Antonio Bennett (Clearview) kept the momentum going with an RBI single in the inning, cutting the Graders lead 10-4.
The Ironmen dugout started to feel the momentum shifting as another Galion error, this time in a routine throw out from the catcher, turned into a unwise decision to go for the runner heading home. The gamble proved costly as two Ironmen scored and Lorain County crept closer, 10-6.
With momentum possibly shifting sides, Whiteside felt like his team was happy to take anything they could get at that point.
“Well, that wasn’t the ideal situation that we wanted to be in I promise. I guess we thought we had an opportunity to get a delayed steal right there, but I guess it worked out,” Whiteside said.
Michael Blatchford and Bennett then connected on a pair of RBI singles.
Down 10-1 at one point, Lorain was now within only two runs.
With a miracle comeback in reach, Lorain headed into the seventh and continued to put pressure on Galion’s pitching. This time it was Brock Balderson as he was tasked with holding off the home team’s improbable comeback.
The Ironmen got runners aboard first and second but Balderson locked in, striking out three consecutive batters to breathe a sigh of relief for the Graders.
Despite still falling short, Whiteside was pleased with the resilience his team showed down 10-1.
“That’s the positive that we were able to come back and compete.”