Sports
Copperheads Fall in 10-7 Slugfest
< < Back to copperheads-fall-in-10-7-slugfestOn Sunday night, the Southern Ohio Copperheads presented by Ohio Health O’Bleness Hospital took on the Licking County Settlers in Game 2 of a home series and lost by a score of 10-6. Both teams combined for 28 hits in an offensive explosion.
Jake Rudnicki started for the Copperheads on the mound going four innings, giving up 10 hits with eight earned runs. Tim Mulvey was the started for the Settlers, going six and two thirds with eight hits allowed and only three earned runs.
After a one-two-three first inning from Rudnicki, second baseman Connor Callery out of Ohio University lead of the bottom of the inning with a single. Callery eventually reached third after a bunt from Jason Suchanek and a groundout by Ted Williams. Unfortunately he would not score. The Copperheads were never able to gain a lead in the ballgame.
The third inning began with back-to-back-to-back singles by the Settlers to load the bases for Dustin Lee, who scored Woody Wallace on a RBI groundout to take a 1-0 lead. A sac fly from Dylan Calhoun made it 2-0, and an error allowed the third Licking County run. Rudnicki finished out the inning but the Settlers found themselves up 3-0.
The Copperheads answered back with one run off of a Jason Suchanek RBI double that scored Connor Callery making it 3-1 after three. The Settlers tacked on three more runs before the end of the fourth inning making the score 6-1.
The top of the fifth inning was capped by Robbie Doring teeing off on a Rudnicki curve ball with a two-run-home run, making the score 8-1 in favor of the Settlers. Soon after Jake Rudnicki was replaced by Zach Moore. In the bottom of the fifth, the Copperheads loaded the bases but only managed to score one run making it 8-2. The Settlers tacked on another run in the top of the sixth making it 9-2.
The Copperheads mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh scoring four runs to pull within 9-6. TJ Shook entered the game in the top of the 8th making his first relief appearance of the season. After Licking County added a 10th run in the 8th, the Copperheads added another late rally in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases but just could not get the job done in the end.
Connor Callery was the standout player for the Copperheads, going 4-5 with two runs scored. His batting average went up 34 points tonight as well to a team-high .397.
“With a lefty on the mound I just tried to keep everything in and see it deep,” Callery said. “I also tried going the other way to really mix things up and it just worked for me tonight.”
Coach Jonathan Nichols said that there were some positives to take away on the night, despite the general frustrations.
“The two innings we were good offensively we had great approaches at the plate,” Nichols said. “If we can do that over the course of the game, it would be a completely different outcome that’s for sure.”
“We just need to be less complacent at the plate and stop waiting on things to happen, we get runners in scoring position then we just get complacent and don’t seize the opportunity, but you saw tonight when we get out of that mindset, good things happen.”
The Copperheads are back in action tomorrow at 5:30pm against the Xenia Scouts in a make-up game from last Thursday’s rainout. The team will play four straight home games before heading out for four more on the road.
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