Scouts split with Cincinnati

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XENIA — The Xenia Scouts needed 10 innings before they could score a run, in Friday’s July 14 doubleheader split with the visiting Cincinnati Steam.

Cincinnati pasted the Scouts, 11-0, in the first of two seven-inning games played on Grady’s Field, located at the Athletes In Action Sports Complex, but Xenia responded with a 5-4 win in the nightcap.

It wasn’t until Ohio State University red shirt freshman Joey Roddy drove in Tennessee-Martin senior Jordan Lambert in the fourth inning of Friday’s second game that Xenia was able to put a run on the scoreboard.

The Steam pounded a dozen hits, while limiting Xenia to five, in the first contest. Cincinnati’s speedy lead-off hitter, Jace Mercer of the University of Cincinnati, collected three hits in four plate appearances, but it was Johnson County Community College right fielder Matt Warkentin who hit a home run as part of a four-RBI performance in the first-game win.

Cincinnati is now 17-12 this season and in first place in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League’s Southern Division by one game over the Richmond (Ind.) Jazz.

With 13 games left in the ‘s regular season, Xenia (14-14) finds itself just 2 1/2 games behind Cincinnati.

Wright State’s Kyle Casserly was the only Scout with multiple hits in the first-game loss. The Raider first baseman went 2-for-3 with a double. Cairn University’s Aaron Takacs, Cadon Owens of Oral Roberts University, and Roddy had the other Xenia hits.

Xenia trailed in Game 2 by a 3-1 count after Roddy’s RBI single in the fourth. In the fifth, Francisco Ondina scored on a passed ball strikeout of Casserly (who safely advanced to first). Lambert then singled home Point Loma Nazarene freshman catcher Ryan Park to tie the game at 3-all. Roddy then put the Scouts out in front, 5-3, with a fifth-inning single that scored both Casserly and Lambert.

Cincy’s Warkentin drove in the University of Central Florida’s Dallas Beaver with a run in the top of the sixth to pull the Steam within one run, 5-4, in the second game, but Xenia’s Landon Williams, a right-handed junior from Oklahoma Wesleyan University, retired the Steam in order in the seventh to preserve the win.

Roddy led the Scouts with two hits in three at-bats, with three runs batted in.

Of the remaining 13 GLSCL regular season games on the Scouts’ schedule, 11 of them are at Grady’s Field in Xenia. The Scouts host the Lima Locos at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, July 15, then again at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday, July 16. The entire league will take a couple days off for the July 18 all-star game at Prasco Field in Mason, then Xenia returns to Grady’s Field for a Thursday July 20 doubleheader with the Southern Ohio Copperheads (5:05 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. game times), then they’ll take on the Copperheads for a single-game contest at 7:05 p.m. Friday, July 21.

Cincinnati Steam first baseman Cole Murphy, of the University of Cincinnati, makes a grab just ahead of Xenia Scouts base runner Cadon Owens, of Oral Roberts University, in the first game of Friday’s July 14 doubleheader on Grady’s Field at the Athletes In Action Sports Complex in Xenia.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/07/web1_ColeMurphyCadonOwens1B_PS.jpgCincinnati Steam first baseman Cole Murphy, of the University of Cincinnati, makes a grab just ahead of Xenia Scouts base runner Cadon Owens, of Oral Roberts University, in the first game of Friday’s July 14 doubleheader on Grady’s Field at the Athletes In Action Sports Complex in Xenia.

Xenia Scouts first baseman Kyle Casserly, a junior at Wright State University, singles to center field in the sixth inning of Friday’s July 14 first game of a Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League doubleheader with the visiting Cincinnati Steam.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/07/web1_KyleCasserlySingle_PS.jpgXenia Scouts first baseman Kyle Casserly, a junior at Wright State University, singles to center field in the sixth inning of Friday’s July 14 first game of a Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League doubleheader with the visiting Cincinnati Steam.

Cincinnati second baseman Jace Mercer, of the University of Cincinnati, forces out a Xenia Scouts runner at second, during Friday’s July 14 first game of a double header at Grady’s Field in Xenia.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/07/web1_JaceMercerForceOut_PS.jpgCincinnati second baseman Jace Mercer, of the University of Cincinnati, forces out a Xenia Scouts runner at second, during Friday’s July 14 first game of a double header at Grady’s Field in Xenia.

Xenia Scouts reliever Tytus Collins delivers a pitch to home plate, during the later innings of Friday’s July 14 first game of a Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League doubleheader at Grady’s Field, on the Athletes In Action Sports Complex in Xenia.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/07/web1_TytusCollinsPitch_PS.jpgXenia Scouts reliever Tytus Collins delivers a pitch to home plate, during the later innings of Friday’s July 14 first game of a Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League doubleheader at Grady’s Field, on the Athletes In Action Sports Complex in Xenia.

By John Bombatch

[email protected]

Contact John Bombatch at 937-372-4444, Ext. 2123

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