Marysville’s Blake Storr pops up out of his slide into the plate for a run against Teays Valley on Saturday. Storr scored on a wild pitch before the Vikings’ pitcher could make the tag. The Monarchs, though, dropped the non-conference game, 9-6.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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Marysville High School head baseball coach Nick Blake knew early on that Saturday’s game against Teays Valley would be a struggle.
“We didn’t throw strikes right from the start,” he said after the Monarchs’ 9-6 non-conference setback to the Vikings. “We’ve been doing a good job of that lately and when we didn’t, I knew that was going to set the tone for the game.”
The outcome came during the Hays/Hoehn game that honored the memories of former MHS assistant coach John Hays and athlete Corey Hoehn.
MHS pitchers had problems getting and staying ahead in the count to Viking batters for much of the day.
A quintet of Marysville hurlers managed only three strikeouts, while walking five and hitting a couple of batters.
The Vikings got to MHS starting pitcher Matt Belt for a trio of runs in the visitors’ portion of the first inning and never trailed.
Teays Valley sandwiched a single by Austin West in between a fly ball and pop up for outs.
Belt got into trouble when he walked Gage Weiler and hit Reid Mengerick with a pitch to load the bases.
The Monarch righty still had difficulty locating the strike zone when he walked Hunter Young and plunked Cody Kennedy to bring in a pair of Viking runs.
Tanner Kendig singled to give the visitors a 3-0 lead before Belt could induce a fly ball to end the inning.
MHS answered with a run in the bottom of the first against Viking starter Samuel Fabrro.
Connor Parks singled and Michael Bonczak was struck by a pitch.
Both advanced on a wild pitch.
Farbrro notched a strikeout before Blake Storr’s sacrifice fly brought Parks in with Marysville’s initial run.
A line drive out ended MHS’ threat.
Teays Valley added two more runs in the second, which was an inning that saw southpaw Dominic Smith take the mound for the Monarchs.
Belt retired the Vikings’ first batter of the inning on a fly ball, but yielded back-to-back singles from West and Nick Salyer.
At that point, Blake brought Smith to the bump.
Smith notched the second out on a fly ball, but surrendered a single by Mengerick that added two more runs to Belt’s ledger.
The Monarchs kept chipping away, however, adding a run in the second and two more in the third to pull to within 5-4.
With one down in the second, Chase Kilgore was hit by a pitch and Jack Christian singled.
They moved up a base on a wild pitch and Kilgore ran home on Parks’ two-out single.
A strikeout, though, left two MHS runners on base.
Christian Colvin led off the third with a single and Storr blasted a double.
Colvin scored on a fielder’s choice off Gabe Schaeffer’s bat and Storr raced home on a wild pitch to pull the Monarchs to within a run.
Smith got Marysville through the top of the third without giving up a run.
The Vikings, however, added three scores in the fourth off relief pitcher Garrett Seger.
A pair of Monarch fielding miscues put West and Salyer on base with two out.
They both scored on Mengerick’s double.
A two-bagger from Young pushed Teays Valley’s advantage to 8-4.
The Monarchs narrowed their deficit with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Noah Brown walked and Parks singled.
They both advanced on a wild pitch.
Fabbro got the next two batters out before Storr came to the plate.
The MHS senior was issued an intentional walk to set up a force at any base.
The strategy backfired when pinch-hitter Trey Storr pulled the Monarchs to within 8-6 on a two run-double.
Marysville stranded two runners, though, when Fabbro got a strikeout.
Bonczak went to the mound for the fifth inning and put the Vikings down without much trouble.
The Monarchs, though, couldn’t generate much in the way of offense for the rest of the game.
They left two runners on in the fifth and went down in order in the sixth.
As a matter of fact, they managed only two hits in five innings of work by Weiler, who came on in relief.
The Vikings added their final run in the seventh off Blaine Williams, MHS’ fifth pitcher of the day.
Marysville, which had stranded eight runners on base through six innings, were retired quietly in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
Although the Monarchs outhit the Vikings, 11-9, they also went down swinging 10 times.
As such, they saw their record drop to 10-9 on the season.
MHS is scheduled to host Hilliard Davidson today in a return to Ohio Capital Conference Central Division action.
TV 320 300 1-9 9 0
MHS 112 200 0-6 11 2
WP: Fabbro
LP: Belt