Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Xenia senior Evan Harbison barrels a ball for his second hit as part of a three-hit game during Tuesday’s 6-0 win against Greenville for the Bucs.
Beavercreek senior Cameron Martinsen pitched two innings with plenty of stress, but allowed no runs to score to keep the Beavers in front during its 6-1 win at Legacy Christian on Tuesday.
Legacy Christian junior Justin Harphant fires a throw from third to get the Beavercreek runner at first during Tuesday’s game.
Legacy Christian freshman Emily McFadden winds up a pitch during Tuesday’s 11-7 home win against Stivers.
XENIA — Four straight wins has moved Xenia to the top of the division standings.
The Bucs took care of Greenville for the second straight day with a 6-0 home win on Tuesday.
The Xenia bats have take off during the win streak. The team has outscored Sidney and Greenville 32-11 in the four games and while getting it done late in games at the start of the streak, Tuesday saw them get off to a fast start.
Xenia scored four times in the first inning thanks in part to aggressive baserunning. Cayden Smith took advantage of a leadoff walk to steal second and was immediately driven home by Evan Harbison. Ethan Wells came up two batters later and drove a ball through the infield to plate Harbison from second. Emery Lane sacrificed two runners into scoring position and Devin Siebel came up with a big two-out hit to score them both.
Tully Wassom took over on the mound from then on. After allowing a single to lead off the game, Greenville’s bats had no further success. Wassom faced the minimum in five of the final six innings in throwing a complete game one-hitter, coupled by one walk with eight strikeouts.
Smith and Harbison both hit a RBI double later in the game to extend Xenia’s lead.
Xenia is now 7-5 overall and getting at full strength for the first time this season after having been without several players for various reasons. The Bucs start a back-to-back against Stebbins on Wednesday, continuing on Thursday, before hosting Beavercreek on Saturday in a big out of league contest.
Baseball — Beavercreek staves off Legacy rallies
Legacy Christian looked poised to breakthrough in the middle innings, but never was able to find the key hit it needed against Beavercreek.
The Beavers added on late to pull out a 6-1 road win Tuesday, but the game was much closer than that score indicates. Beavercreek was pushed by a hungry LCA team looking to upset a local power on short notice.
The game between the two teams was scheduled on Monday after Legacy learned it had to cancel its planned game against Bellbrook due to the Golden Eagles needing to play a make-up game for league play.
A 1-1 game after three innings saw Beavercreek pull back ahead on a Brock Bukiewicz base hit that followed a two-base error by LCA in the field. It seemed to be the only way Beavercreek may get its offense going after being held to one in the first.
The Knights got runners on the basepaths in the fourth and fifth and put themselves in position to get the lead. Cameron Martinsen pitched through the rally attempts and stranded five LCA runners. The Knights got two on with no outs in the fourth but could not get the tying run home from third, and in the fifth loaded the bases with a pair of two-out walks but struck out to end the threat.
Timothy Chavies gave the Knights a chance in retiring six straight during the fifth and sixth innings to keep the Beavercreek hitters at bay until they broke through in the seventh.
Owen Roether had a pair of doubles for Beavercreek at the plate, and Tyler Back hit a RBI triple in the seventh to get the four-run inning started. Joey Frisk closed the door with a two inning save, striking out three during his time on the mound.
LCA got hits by David Cancino, Chavies, Justin Harphant and Michael Little, and the team drew seven walks in total.
Beavercreek (6-5) heads back into GWOC play with games against Wayne to close out the week. Legacy Christian (5-3) hosts Trotwood on Thursday and travels to play Madison and Ponitz on Saturday.
Softball — Knights get second win of season
Stivers closed the gap late, but the deficit was too much as Legacy Christian won 11-7 at home Tuesday.
The top of the LCA lineup did the damage at the plate, combining to go 11-for-22 with six RBI and scoring all 11 runs. Esther Augustine had a big game, going 3-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run, double and a walk while stealing four bases. Ali Solomon also hit her second home run of the season.
Olivia Augustine hit a ground out to plate a run in the fourth and singled in the sixth to bring home another in her two RBI game.
Emily McFadden went the distance in the circle, allowing 10 hits and five walks.
LCA (2-4) hosts Meadowdale on Thursday and will play at Trotwood on Friday.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
