Knights can learn from animated seagulls even after doubleheader sweep
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.
That one simple word could have prevented the fifth inning collision between left fielder Mason James and center fielder Cody Messner in game two, which sent James to the hospital for an evaluation and caused the Knights to play the final 2 1/3 innings with only eight players and an automatic out in James’ vacated lead off spot.
After going 2-for-2, with a two-run home run, a double and two runs scored during the Knights’ 9-4 win in game one, starting center fielder Joey Gonzalez plated the Knights first run in game two when he ripped a triple into deep left-center, scoring second baseman Vayden Wood from first base in the top of the fourth inning.
Gonzalez came home two batters later when Garrett Mackey tripled to the deepest part of center field, 380 feet away from home plate, and the Knights scored their third run one batter later when freshman designated hitter Dillon “Butch” Baird singled home Mackey.
Baird was in the DH spot for junior starting pitcher Taylor Owen who took the mound with a self-described “torn hamstring” in his right leg.
That injury, suffered during basketball season over the winter, wouldn’t allow Owen to push off and generate much power in his delivery, causing him to joke in between games, “It’s all about location.”
McDowell wasn’t joking, however, when he said, “Basically we just want to keep him [Owen] working so he keeps his arm strength up a little bit. Hopefully we can get two innings, three if we’re lucky, and we’ll go from there.”
McDowell and the Knights were more than lucky as Owen was still on the mound heading into the bottom of the fifth after West Holmes made the score 6-1 in the top-half on an RBI single from junior shortstop Keaton Leppla and back-to-back run scoring doubles from Steve Thomas and Gabe Snyder.
But as Owen worked into the bottom of the fifth, Gonzalez was on his way back to Millersburg to get ready for the prom, as Bucks’ shortstop Cory Schultz ripped a ball into the gap between left and center, just in front of the 350-foot sign, sending James and Messner slamming into each other, neither one having called the other one off with a simple, “Mine,” allowing the ball to fall in for an RBI double, which gave Medina Buckeye its third run of the inning and cut the Knights lead to 6-4.
“He had a little bit of blood coming out in his spit,” explained McDowell after accompanying Buckeye’s trainer into the outfield to examine his fallen outfielder – who appeared to catch Messner’s shoulder squarely in the chest – eventually removing James from the lineup and watching him leave with his dad to go to Wooster Community Hospital. “They couldn’t find anything wrong in his mouth so he’s going to find out where it’s coming from.”
The Bucks, meanwhile, were coming from behind to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth after the Knights went scoreless in the top-half, stranding one runner when James’ spot in the order produced the automatic third out.
Right fielder Dennis Dudgeon laced a leadoff homer over the left field fence, catcher Scotty Cloudy hit a bloop single over Leppla at short, reached second on an error and scored on an RBI single from starting pitcher Shane Miller, knocking Owen out of the game after five-plus innings of work, and putting Baird on the mound in relief.
“You know they’re going to sit there and say, ‘Let’s hit a fly ball and see if we can get it down,’” said Leppla as Messner and Mackey covered the entire outfield for the Knights over the final two innings, positioning themselves at left center and right center. “They had some nice little bloops we couldn’t do anything about.”
“I was hoping the ball would stay down in the zone and they’d hit ground balls,” added McDowell, but Baird did him one better by striking out the next three batters in the bottom of inning number six to send the Knights back up to the plate looking to break the 6-6 tie.
It only took five pitches for that to happen, as Wood led off the seventh with a double on a 2-0 pitch, and Leppla smashed a 2-1 offering over the left field fence for his second home run on the day, after giving West Holmes its fifth and sixth runs in game one with a two-run shot in inning number five.
“We came in the dugout, said, ‘Let’s get this one for Mason,’ had a little confidence, put the ball in play and made stuff happen,” explained Leppla afterward. “I struggled early on in that first game and coach [McDowell] told me to sit back in the zone, sit on something. They kind of got in a pattern where they’d go fastball, curveball, and same thing second time. I just sat on the curveball, opened my stance a little bit and got into it.
“The wind helped a little bit too.”
The Knights added an insurance run later in the seventh when Thomas doubled and came home on an RBI single off the bat of Baird, who made easy work of the Bucks in the bottom half, inducing a comebacker to the mound, getting a groundout to short and striking out pinch hitter Kyle McWhinney to end the game and complete the sweep with a 9-6 win.
“I just tried to do my best and tried to get them to hit groundballs so the outfield didn’t have to work that hard,” explained Baird, after retiring all six batters he faced without allowing the ball to get out of the infield.
“The kids were getting antsy wanting to get out of here for the prom, we let them back in the game, we have an injury and have a little drama, but Butch comes in and does a great job,” said McDowell, who watched the 6-foot-3-inch lefty Snyder go the distance to pick up the win in game one, allowing only three earned runs on six hits and four walks, while striking out two. “He’s one of those kids that wants the ball in that situation and that’s great to have.”
Mackey added two singles, a double, an RBI and scored two runs in the 9-4 game one win for the Knights who have won three straight while moving to 12-4 on the year and securing the number three seed for the upcoming Division II Zanesville Sectional tournament.
Asked if he was confident enough to play his remaining games with only eight men, McDowell promptly said, “No.”
To ensure that doesn’t happen again the Knights might want to learn an equally simple one-syllable word that even animated seagulls can say.
Mine. Mine. Mine.