Copperheads keep title hopes alive, defeat Grand Lake

By Brian Boesch

Southern Ohio did its part. Now, the Copperheads need some help to get into their first ever Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League championship game.

The Copperheads defeated the Grand Lake Mariners 3-2 Friday afternoon at the AIA Sports Complex in Xenia.

Southern Ohio now needs Licking County to defeat the Lima Locos in the next game of the tournament and score at least three runs to punch their ticket to the title game against Cincinnati, who clinched their berth with a 7-0 win over Xenia Friday morning.

As it has all season, the pitching staff carried the Snakes. Cameron Hobson, the second-team All-GLSCL hurler, earned the win after six solid innings of work.

“I didn’t feel so good at the start,” Hobson said. “I just made my pitches, hit my spots…I’m pretty happy with my performance.”

Then, Dave Jensen came out of the bullpen to earn a three-inning save. The southpaw allowed an unearned run in the eighth inning but worked a one-two-three ninth inning to clinch the win for Southern Ohio.

“It was pretty cool going out there in relief,” Jensen said. “I was a little flat, but I slowly started to get some rhythm at the end.”

“David cleaned it up really well,” said Copperheads’ skipper Mike Florak. “It wasn’t a smooth transition, but he got the job done. He’s a gamer, and he pitched well for us.”

Southern Ohio jumped out to the early lead in the first inning. After the first two men reached base, Trent Moses drove in a run on a single. Then, Jeff May chased in another run on a groundout to third base.

In the second, the Copperheads added to their lead, as Ryan Burnett plated Taylor Davis with an RBI single.

But the Copperheads’ offense did not fare too well down the stretch. The Mariners’ pitching staff retired the final 16 Copperheads they faced. The last of the Copperheads’ seven base hits came with two outs in the fourth inning.

“We’ll just rest up,” Florak said about his offense. “Grand Lake has one of the best pitching staffs you will see. We did enough to do what we had to do.”

Grand Lake’s two runs came in the sixth and the eighth innings. A sacrifice fly by Zach Tanner drove in the first run for the Mariners. In the eighth, Andrew Host scored on a throwing error by Justin Marrero.

With nothing to play for, Grand Lake shuffled players in and out throughout the contest. Seven pitchers threw for the Mariners, and 15 different players registered at least an at bat.

The Mariners were eliminated Friday when Cincinnati downed Xenia, so their season is over.

With the waiting game on now for the Copperheads, Florak is confident that his club will be ready.

“Our guys will be ready,” Florak said. “They’re gonna eat, get off their feet, relax a little bit and just root for Licking [County].”

If the chips fall in the right places for the Copperheads, Brian Boesch and Allie LaForce will call the action from Xenia on Power 105 and online at copperheadbaseball.com. Stay current at the Copperheads’ Twitter account, available at the left side of our homepage.

GAME NOTES:

• Grand Lake showed up about 20 minutes before the beginning of the original 1 p.m. start time. As a result, the game did not begin until 1:16 p.m. Had Grand Lake not shown up, the Copperheads would have earned a forfeit win of 9-0.
• Cameron Hobson only won one game during the regular season despite a 2.15 ERA.
• If you factor the playoff stats into his ERA, Dave Jensen’s mark is now 0.27.