Southern Ohio downs Licking County in game one of GLSCL Tournament

By Brian Boesch

Jeff May’s two-run double in the first put the Copperheads in front, and the pitching staff did the rest as the Copperheads won the first game of their three-game pod-play schedule 5-2 Wednesday over fourth-seeded Licking County in the 2009 GLSCL Tournament.

Southern Ohio will clinch a spot in the GLSCL title game with a win over top-seed Lima Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

David Starn (2-2) went six and a third innings in his final appearance of the summer and scattered three hits. The all-star struck out three and dominated during the second half of his performance after stranding four runners in the first three innings.

“At first, it was kind of hard to find my pitches,” Starn said. “Then I got in kind of a groove and my defense was there to back me up. I think it was a good closing to my season.”

“David Starn was the key,” skipper Mike Florak said. “He was able to get out of a couple jams and then got on a roll from there.”

Greg Frederick finished the seventh inning, and Adam Wamsley, despite allowing a two-run home run to Dan Bucholz, paved the way for Brannon Belair’s first save. Belair struck out two in a one-two-three ninth inning to clinch the victory.

“We have a lot of good arms in there, a lot of different angles,” Belair said about the bullpen without closer Jordan Langley and set-up man Tyler Gatrell. “[We] go up against hitters who aren’t used to facing pitchers like us.”

Against a club the Copperheads did not defeat in four tries during the regular season, Southern Ohio jumped out to an early advantage. May drove in Jerod Yakubik and Justin Marrero with two outs in the first inning.

“He was throwing a lot of fastballs, so I was sitting hard on fastball,” May said. “It was good to get to [Licking County pitcher Phil Klein], get some runs on the board.”

In the fifth frame, a pair of RBI doubles by Yakubik and Marrero sandwiched in a wild pitch that brought home another run, making it 5-0 Copperheads.

The Copperheads rocked the Settlers’ ace Phil Klein (2-2). The Youngstown State Penguin went six innings and allowed five runs on eight hits.

“When you are going against someone like Phil Klein, you have to be able to take advantage of your opportunities when you get base runners,” Florak said. “We were able to do that. We got clutch hits today.”

Southern Ohio notched 10 base hits after averaging less than six hits per game against the Settlers during the season. Licking County outscored the Snakes 20-9 during the regular season.

With the Copperheads one win away from their first GLSCL title game in team history, Florak is not looking ahead.

“Lima’s got a great club,” Florak said. “We’re not looking ahead. We’re not looking past the first pitch in the game against Lima.”

However, the Copperheads believe they are peaking right now.

“We know we can play with anybody out here,” May said. “[We can] get some wins and hopefully win this thing.”

“I think we can make it all the way,” Starn said.

Southern Ohio will take on the Lima Locos, a team that the Snakes swept on the last day of the regular season in a twin bill, Thursday in Xenia. If Southern Ohio wins, they are in the title game no matter what happens Friday against Grand Lake. If the Copperheads lose, they could still make it into the title game if Lima loses its other two games and the Copperheads defeat Grand Lake Friday.

Licking County, now 0-1 in Pod 1, will take on Cincinnati at noon Thursday in an inter-pod match-up.

GAME NOTES:

• David Starn hit three batters in the first two innings after only hitting three batters all season.
• The time of the contest was only 2:13.
• Southern Ohio went 3-1 against the Locos this season.
• Grand Lake takes on Cincinnati at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and the nightcap is the one-versus-six match-up, Lima vs. Xenia at 7:00 p.m.