Defending Champion Bobcats Start OCCAC Play 2-0
Defending Champion Bobcats Start OCCAC Play 2-0
The defending OCCAC Champion Bobcats started the conference season on a high note yesterday as they won games against Terra State 8-5 and 3-2 to start 2-0 in OCCAC action. John Costella, Domonic Prevesk, and Tylor Wolfe all had 3 hits on the day to lead the Bobcat offense. Jagger Jefferis and Dom Prevesk earned the wins on the mound, while Matt Blanchard got a tough no decision after throwing 6.2 superb innings to start game 2.
Game 1
The Bobcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over the Titans as they took advantage of a pair of walks in the inning. Ryan Horstman walked and later scored on a John Costella ground out, and Drew Firchau walked and scored on a Tylor Wolfe missile off the left field wall that landed him on second with a stand up double. Sophomore fireballer, Jagger Jefferis, got the ball to kick off game 1 of OCCAC play and turned in another solid 6 innings of work. He ran into a little trouble in the first, walking the Titan lead off man Kody Schultz who came around to score later in the inning on an Alex Sierra groundout. The 2-1 lead would extend in the 3rd inning as a Prevesk hit by pitch, a Costella single and a Firchau single would drive in Prevesk to make the lead 3-1. Noah Brite would ground into a double play, but Costella was able to scamper home during the action to make the Bobcat lead 4-1. Another double off the bat of Wolfe followed by a double by Rontrell Greer would tack on another run making the Bobcat lead 5-1 going to the bottom of the 3rd. A walk and two hit by pitches would load the bases for Freshman backstop Blake Fuller who picked a great moment to record his first knock as a Bobcat as he laced a ball into right center driving in two more B&SC runs to make the score 7-1 going into the bottom of the 5th. The Titans would scratch out another run in the bottom of the 5th to make the score 7-2 after a throwing error by the Bobcats put Anthony D'Amico in scoring position with nobody out. He would later score on an Alex Sierra single up the middle. D'Amico and Sierra were the first Titans to reach base since the 2nd inning as Jefferis cruised through the middle innings retiring 9 of 10 Titan batters including 3 strikeouts. Two more walks and another John Costella single would load the bases with 2 away for Sophomore shortstop Jackson Homage to extend the lead with a hard hit ball up the middle to make the score 8-1 Bobcats. Jefferis would get through the 6th unscathed before turning the ball over to the Bobcat bullpen in the 7th. His day would end having allowed 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 5 in his 6 innings of work. He tossed 64 of his 88 pitches for strikes.
The Titans would threaten in their last 3 outs as they were able to plate three runs and get the tying run on first base, but Freshman right hander Austen Price was able to squash any hopes of a comeback victory with a quick infield pop up, a groundout to Homage at short, and a strike out of his own. Bobcats win 8-5.
Game 2
Game 2 was a nail biter as Terra State starter, Kody Schultz, and Bobcat right hander, Matt Blanchard, matched each other 0 for 0 in the box score for the first 5 innings of play. Blanchard, a Freshman dual player who pitches and plays some third base, looked superb in his first OCCAC start. He kept Titans hitters off balance with a fastball registering in the mid 80s, a changeup that ran away from batters in the upper 70s, and a big breaking ball that Titan hitters kept waving at as it fell out of the strike zone that registered in the high 60s. Blanchard dazzled through 6 innings as he allowed just 5 Titans to reach base, and nobody further than second, whie he struck out 9. The Bobcats would finally get to Titans starter Kody Schultz in the 6th inning as a Logan Wunderle lead off double would run him from the game. Wunderle would move up to third on a wild pitch thrown by Terra State reliever Jacob Emerson, and score on an Alec Kolenic sacrifice fly to right field to make the score 1-0. The Bobcats would manufacture another run in the top of the 7th with a leadoff walk to Drew Firchau and a single through the infield by Tylor Wolfe to put two runners on and nobody out. Gabe Morgan would execute a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position and Logan Wunderle would drive in pinch runner, Dylan Cutler, with a sacrifice fly of his own to make the score 2-0 Bobcats. But, the error bug would bite the Bobcats again in the bottom of the 7th after Blanchard worked two quick outs around a walk. The defensive miscue gave the Titans two men on with two outs and the heart of their line up coming to hit. Mike Barkman would drive in the runners to tie the game with a good piece of two strike hitting and chase Blanchard from a now tied ball game. Dom Prevesk would come in from second base in relief of Blanchard and record a strikeout to send the game to the 8th inning. Another piece of clutch hitting by Homage would put him on first with a lead off single. A walk to Prevesk would put two Bobcats on the bases with nobody out. A pass ball allowed both Homage and Prevesk to move up a bag, and the Bobcats would capitalize with yet another sacrifice fly as Ryan Horstman hit one deep enough into right field to drive in Homage from third. Julius Robinson would enter in relief to throw for the Titans and quell the Bobcats scoring efforts. The Titans would threaten in the bottom of the 8th with two hits. But, a Prevesk strike out and a ground ball vacuumed up at short by Homage that started a tailor made 6-4-3 double play would end the threat and the ball game. Bobcats squeak out an extra inning victory 3-2. The Bobcats will look to sweep the series against Terra as they play the Titans again this Sunday at Cisar field, games start at 1pm and 3:30pm.