Piqua catcher Zander Mason tags out a potential go-ahead run in the fifth inning of Thursday’s 13-4 win over Greenville. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After a sloppy start, Piqua scored four runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and put Greenville away with 8 in the sixth to stay unbeaten in MVL play.
Piqua, OH – Piqua baseball coach Ryan Callison would be the first to admit that while the Indians are 10-2, overall, after a 13-4 bashing of Greenville (4-7, 0-4 in MVL) Thursday, they’re hardly a thing of beauty yet, and have yet to play their best baseball.
Mark Knupp Muffler and Tire sponsors the best in area sports stories on Press Pros Magazine.com.
“It’s early, and no we haven’t played a lot of baseball,” said Piqua’s first year coach. “The last couple of games we’ve been in coast mode and tonight was a reality check for us. Because Greenville played Tipp tough yesterday, and today was a good test for us.”
The irony is…that despite a sloppy start on Thursday in which Callison’s Indians gave up an unearned run in the second, and two more in the fourth – both as a result of costly throwing errors – they’re a surprising 10-0 in MVL North play, having beaten Sidney, West Carrollton, and Stebbins, Greenville, and Xenia twice each.
None of those teams are to be confused with the Big Red Machine, but somehow Piqua has found a way to score an average of 11 runs in each of those wins, and play well enough behind their pitching to be at the top of the standings.
In fact, their only losses of the year have come to Kenton Ridge, and Graham (in extra innings).
Shortstop/pitcher Hunter Streinke makes a backhand play at deep short during Thursday’s 13-4 win.
“We make some mistakes by being in the mind that you want to make a play on some balls that you can’t,” adds Callison. “We were a little rough tonight at the start…mental mistakes. But we’ve got a couple of good arms, Hunter Steinke and Mason Davis are our #1 and #2, and it’s good to have those two arms. Mason came in tonight because we had him ready and he shut them down…didn’t allow them any more runs [after the fourth inning).
Piqua got on the board and won in what’s become a familiar fashion. They feasted off 8 Greenville walks for the game, and a pair of hit batsmen that turned out to be too many free bases to overcome. Some of those free bases were made more costly by the fact that Piqua turned them into stolen bases…five times!
Koverman-Staley-Dickerson Insurance proudly sponsor area high school baseball on Press Pros.
For instance, after centerfielder Mickey Anderson led off the fourth with the first of his two hits on the night, stole second, and Piqua was then awarded three succeeding walks in the inning, along with a hit batter, to take a 4-3 lead.
Ran them ragged…Piqua’s five stolen bases figured heavily their 13 runs scored in the win over Greenville.
Piqua starter Cohen Brown threw the ball well through the first three innings, but appeared to tire noticeably in the fourth, leading Callison to bring in Mason Davis in the fifth to hold things at 4-3.
However, Greenville scratched out a run in the fifth to tie, at 4-4, and had another potential go-ahead run cut down at the plate. That play seemed to boost Piqua to score a run of their own in the fifth to take the lead for good.
Then, leading 5-4 in the sixth, the Indians scored 8 times on five hits and three more Greenville walks as the Green Wave’s bullpen caved in, and made the final three Greenville outs academic.
“We’ve got thirteen seniors on this team,” said Mickey Anderson, an obvious veteran figure in the lineup, who went 2 for 3 at the plate and was hit twice, despite one of those hit batsmen being called a foul ball.
The Arbogast family of dealerships is pleased to sponsor your favorite high school sports on Press Pros.
“But we’ve only got a couple that have played four years of varsity, so we have to come out and be leaders. I try to protect the plate and be aware of the count, and I try to keep confidence and stay within my ears. You have to believe that you’re good enough.”
Piqua’s Mason Davis threw 1 run, three hit baseball over the final three innings to get the win.
But despite their impressive league record, they have some work to do between now and the next four weeks. They’ve yet to play Tipp, Troy, and Butler.
“We’ve got two games each with those three teams,” said Anderson. “We’ve got to come out and have good practices, be ready to play, and get ready to go. Tonight was a confidence booster because these games have allowed us to get the season started in a positive way. It’s helped us to get going.”
And despite the quality teams in the league being still ahead, Piqua has some quality of its own, despite some of its inexperience. They have at least three good arms in Hunter Steinke, Davis, and Cohen Brown. There’s veteran leadership in the field with Anderson anchoring things in center field, and they’ll hit enough (13 runs on 10 hits) to make those teams pitch effectively.
“It wasn’t as pretty as we would have liked,” added Callison, speaking of Thursday’s win. “But we’ve got a good #1 and #2 on the mound (with Davis and Steinke), and Mickey Anderson has been unbelievable.
“He’s one of the best players I’ve seen around here in a long time. He always seems to step up when we need him to, and does what he has to do to help us win.”
Orthopedic Associates of Southwest Ohio sponsor your favorite sports on Press Pros Magazine.com.