Thick of Karns City’s order shines in 10-0 win
After a long weekend away from the diamond, the Gremlins got busy.
In under five innings on Monday, Karns City’s 3-4-5-6 hitters combined to go 9-for-12 with seven RBIs. The Gremlins enjoyed three days off, including prom, before the 10-0 win over Keystone.
Catcher Troy Nagel went 3-for-3 in the contest, driving in a run with each of his singles while batting cleanup. In the three-hole, Jacob Jones had a triple and a double, coming around both times. Coming to the dish fifth and sixth, respectively, Adam Manuel and Mason Sherwin had multi-hit showings, as well.
“That’s why they’re the heart of the order,” Karns City coach Josh Smith said. “They generally give you good swings, good at-bats, and they come up with situations. We kind of get our lineup set up where we can get a couple guys on ahead of them with more of a patient-eye, slap-hitter-type mentality.
“Then we let the big boys do the big boy things.”
The Gremlins (11-2, 6-2) tacked on three runs in the bottom of the first inning at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park, as Hobie Bartoe led off with a single, stole second two batters later, and was pushed across by Nagel. Manuel and Sherwin both followed with run-scoring knocks.
To kick off his team’s third offensive turn, Jones tripled over the left fielder’s head and Nagel shot a single through the infield two offerings later.
“He came in and just ripped the ball all over the yard,” Smith said of Nagel. “The kid’s locked in. He’s been a dog this year for us behind the plate, catching every inning, I think, of every game.”
Nagel’s courtesy runner, Colton Christie, swiped second and scooted to third on Manuel’s ground-out. Sherwin’s sacrifice fly made it 5-0, helping his own cause. On the hill, Sherwin spun four shutout frames.
With three infield singles, the Panthers (4-6, 3-5) loaded the bases with two away in the initial inning, but Sherwin fanned his counterpart, Drew Keth to douse the threat.
“That’s a little bit more of being away from baseball for three days,” Smith said. “These are high school kids. They deserve that prom, that experience, hanging out with their classmates, all of the fun stuff that comes with it.”
For Nagel, it was a matter of settling in. Keystone only had two more base-runners the rest of the way.
“We know our game,” he said. “We’ve just got to get our mental aspect right and just go for it.”
Jones smacked another deep extra-base hit to start the bottom fifth and was once again driven in by Nagel. Manuel got on with a single, then Sherwin scored him with another. Jacob Callihan replaced Sherwin with a fielder’s choice and later added to the tally on an error. Bartoe’s two-out RBI single got Tyson Frazer home for the win.
“We’ve been hitting all year pretty good,” Nagel said.
Warriors bats quiet in 1-0 loss
Koen Kemmer’s third-inning RBI sacrifice fly was the difference as Clarion-Limestone downed Moniteau, 1-0, in the second half of the Monday twin bill.
Jesse Siwiecki singled to lead that frame off for the Lions (8-4, 6-2) before Logan Lutz took his place on a fielder’s choice. Tommy Smith doubled to put them both in scoring position with one gone before Kemmer untied the game.
The Warriors (9-5, 7-3) could manage only two hits throughout, both coming off with two outs off Ian Ross’ bat. Dawson Cook followed by flying out both times, in the first and sixth innings.
“It’s just been up and down,” Cook said. “The last couple games, we’ve been putting together a few hits. Last week, we beat them. We 10-runned them in the sixth.
“We just couldn’t get the hits when we needed them today. ... We know we’re a good defensive team. It’s just that we’ve got to put the ball in play.”
Cook went the distance on the mound, but bowed to Lutz, who also hurled a complete game and had four strikeouts in the third frame alone.
“We were getting hits to make easy outs,” Clarion-Limestone coach Bill Smith said. “We got ground balls and we got routine fly balls. ... Defensively, we played pretty well.”
Clarion-Limestone 001 000 0 — 1 5 2
Moniteau 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
W: Logan Lutz 7IP (7K, 1BB). L: Dawson Cook 7IP (3K, 2BB).
Clarion-Limestone (8-4, 6-2): Logan Lutz 1B R, Tommy Smith 2B, Koen Kemmer RBI, Jake Smith 1B, Nick Aaron 1B, Jesse Siwiecki 1B
Moniteau (9-5, 7-3): Ian Ross 2B 1B
Keystone 000 00 — 0 5 3
Karns City 302 05 — 10 11 1
W: Mason Sherwin 4IP (3K, 0BB). L: Drew Keth 4.2IP (3K, 0BB).
Keystone (4-6, 3-5): Aiden Tharan 2-1B, Chazz Renmage 1B, Kord Stewart 1B, Gabe Demmer 1B
Karns City (11-2, 6-2): Hobie Bartoe 2-1B RBI R, Jacob Jones 3B 2B 2R, Troy Nagel 3-1B 3RBI, Colton Christie 3R, Adam Manuel 2B 1B RBI 2R, Mason Sherwin 2-1B 3RBI, Jacob Callihan R, Tyson Frazer R
Friday: Karns City at Moniteau, Pullman Park
