Sports
Clutch Hitting, Stellar Pitching Lead To Impressive Win
By: Marlowe Alter
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This is what Manager Chris Moore had been looking for all season: backed by great pitching and timely hitting, the Copperheads rolled over the Dayton Docs 8-1 to climb above the .500 mark once again.
The start was rough as Dayton jumped out to an early lead.
The Docs' Chris Manning crushed a leadoff triple to right center and scored on Will Drake's RBI groundout.
The Cheads responded with a run in the second.
The middle of the order strung together three base hits and tied the game on Matt Lopez's sacrifice fly, scoring Blaise Salter.
After allowing a run in the opening frame, Lucas went on a roll.
The 6'2" right-hander from Placentia, CA used a variety of off-speed pitches and well-located fastballs to shutdown the Docs.
Mike Fish led off the fifth with a line drive double to left field.
Lopez then knocked in his second run of the game by chopping a single over the head of Docs' first basemen Kody Krizman, allowing Mike Fish to score the go-ahead run.
In the sixth, Matt Borgschulte drew a walk against Hall.
Salter mashed a 2-run homer to left, his second in as many games, giving Lucas some breathing room and the team a 4-1 lead.
The Cheads were able to add two more runs in the inning, capped by an RBI single from second basemen Ben Otto.
Lucas faced his toughest challenge of the afternoon in the bottom of the sixth.
After retiring two of the first three batters, his defense let him down by committing two errors to load the bases.
Facing Patrick Paligraf, Lucas was able to finagle his way out of the jam by getting the third basemen to pop out in foul territory first.
It proved to be the final batter he faced. Lucas went six innings, giving up just three hits and one run to go along with three strikeouts.
The Cheads continued to stay patient at the plate and it paid off in the seventh when they drew two walks to stack the bases.
Fish came through, punching a 2-run single up the middle for an 8-1 lead.
Southern Ohio's bullpen followed in Lucas' footsteps as Tyler Isbell, Cody Mizelle and Erik Shannahan combined for three shutout innings as the Cheads finished off their best performance of the season with the 8-1 win.
The team faces Hamilton on the road this Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Marlowe Alter is an intern with the Southern Ohio Copperheads media.