Knights, Beavers have fun at (fake) Fenway

FAKE FENWAY PARK — We’d initially planned on having Friday night’s simulated baseball game at Legacy Christian’s home ball park of Grady’s Field, on the Athletes In Simulated Action Sports Complex in Xenia.

But it was a nice evening, it wasn’t raining, the paper was in a charitable mood and splurged for simulated round-trip charter flights to send Beavercreek and the Knights to Boston, and Sherco Grand Slam Game designer Steve LeShay emailed in to suggest we use Fenway Park … so we did!

The Beavercreek Beavers smacked four balls off Fenway’s famed Green Monster on their way to a fun 10-3 win over the feisty Knights.

With the Greene County area’s largest school playing against one of the area’s smaller schools in Legacy Christian, this contest could very well have gotten out of hand. But the Knights held their own, and kept the contest to a respectable 4-0 margin through the first four innings of play.

The Beavers jumped out in front, 2-0, in the second.

Ethan Tedder doubled into the power alley of left centerfield to score Austin Schroeder and pitcher Mitch Sumner in the second inning.

Beavercreek’s Grant Reeves and Nolan Frisk (not Fisk) started off the third with back-to-back doubles, with Austin Schroeder’s singling in both for a 4-0 Beavers lead.

For the uninitiated, Boston’s Fenway Park has one of the shortest left fields in the Major Leagues at 315 feet. To compensate for that, they’ve erected a massive 37-foot, 2-inch green-colored wall in an effort of keeping the ball in the ballpark.

Hitting off the Green Monster elicits some often interesting ricochets back onto the ball field, especially for the visiting team. And the Knights and Beavers were both visiting, so the Monster was a challenge for them both.

In all, Beavercreek bounced four liners off the Monster, while Legacy hit two.

The score was 8-0 in Beavercreek’s favor in the fifth when Reeves, Schroeder, Clay Cash and Tedder all scored, off hits by those four and Kevin Bellamy. All five hits were of the doubles variety, with the Schroeder and Bellamy shots careening off the Monster.

Legacy Christian did its best to battle back, as the Knights had the bases loaded in the fourth, but couldn’t score. They scored a pair of runs in the sixth on Monster doubles from Brandon Martin and Zach Zesiger. Both players scored later. Martin scored on Zesiger’s double; then Zesiger came home on a Kyle Mitchell’s single to right center. Again the Knights finished an inning with the bases loaded.

The Beavers tacked on two more runs in the eighth when Dylan Salyers and (not Carlton) Frisk scored.

Michael Pickens enjoyed a bases-loaded walk home in the eighth, but the Knights couldn’t score more the rest of the way.

Four Beaver batters bashed a trio of hits each. Nolan Frisk (not Carlton Fisk) went 3-for-6 with a double and a run scored, Reeves and Schroeder both had identical 3-for-5, two double, two-run line scores, with Schroeder knocking in two runs to Reeves’ one, and Tedder went 3-for-4 with a walk, two doubles, 3 RBI and a run scored.

Sumner got the pitching win with seven hits scattered over nine innings, eight walks and seven strike outs.

Every Knights batter got on base at least once, and Zesiger and Mitchell each had a pair of hits. Zesiger went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored, while Mitchell was 2-for-4 with a walk, run scored and an RBI.

NEXT: Greeneview (0-2) goes up against host Xenia (1-1). If anyone knows the field dimensions at Xenia High, please pass them along and we’ll use them. Otherwise, we’re randomly picking a MLB stadium from the distant past, and Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth might show up, who knows?

Beavercreek High School baseball players look on from the dugout during an intersquad scrimmage game last season.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2020/04/web1_CreekBench_PS.jpgBeavercreek High School baseball players look on from the dugout during an intersquad scrimmage game last season. File photos.

Ashton Burke of Legacy Christian tags out a runner at home plate two seasons ago. Hey, we’re running out of file photos, and we’re observing social distancing. It’s a cool shot. Give us a break.
https://www.fairborndailyherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2020/04/web1_BurkeTagOut2018_PS.jpgAshton Burke of Legacy Christian tags out a runner at home plate two seasons ago. Hey, we’re running out of file photos, and we’re observing social distancing. It’s a cool shot. Give us a break. File photos.

By John Bombatch

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Missing baseball and softball? You can find your own copy of the Sherco Grand Slam Baseball game at the ASG Games website, asggames.com.