Ashton Schmutz of Marysville swings through a pitch during a game against Thomas Worthington. Schmutz hit a home run over the left field fence in the fourth inning to help the Monarchs earn a 10-0 win over the Cardinals. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The Marysville baseball team has had its ups and downs this season.
However, as the regular season comes to a close, the strides made as a team were on display during a 10-0 run-rule victory over Thomas Worthington on Monday.
Marysville coach Nick Blake said his team put all parts of the game together to pull off the win.
“We put runs in all six innings, Jack (Christian) threw well and defense made timely plays,” he said. “It is nice to put all three phases together.”
One of those phases came from Christian on the hill.
The senior pitcher worked a complete game shutout, reaching the century mark in pitches during six innings.
The Cardinals notched a few early hits early, but Christian closed out the first inning with a strikeout, the first of six he tallied.
The Monarchs had no trouble at the plate with the Cardinals’ pitcher.
MHS tallied three hits in the infield during the opening inning.
Tristan Burns drove in the Monarchs’ first run with a hit to third base the Cardinals bobbled.
Bailey Wade followed with a fielder’s choice RBI that gave Marysville a 2-0 lead.
Christian opened the second inning with a strikeout, but followed up with his second walk.
Worthington found a hole in left field for a single and followed with a bunt single to load the bases.
The Cardinals’ next hitter put a ball deep into centerfield .
Christian Colvin chased it down to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard.
Blake said those types of plays are something he’s seeing more out of his young ball club.
“We have grown quite a bit,” he said. “It was interesting coming into this year. Essentially we’ve got an entire team that has never played varsity baseball.
“We are much more comfortable at this point of the year and we are starting to play our best baseball.”
The solid play in the field transferred over to the box in the second inning.
Jacob Anliker belted a lead-off double.
Designated hitter RJ Thorton traded places with Anliker to give Marysville a 3-0 lead.
Christian cruised through the third inning, sitting Worthington down in order.
He followed with lead-off double at the plate in the bottom of the third.
Christian eventually came around to score on a passed ball that lifted the Monarchs to a 4-0 margin.
Marysville’s offense stayed hot in the fourth inning.
Chase Storr reached on an error.
Ashton Schmutz strode to the plate. He needed only two pitches to give the ball a ride over the left field fence to extend Marysville’s lead at 6-0.
Blake said his team has been working on its approach at the plate.
“We work on situational hitting relentlessly,” he said. “We get a guy on third base with less than two outs and we are scoring them.
“We did a really nice job with that tonight. They didn’t give us a whole lot, so we earned everything we got.”
The ebb and flow of the game continued through the fifth with the Monarchs extending their lead to 7-0.
Worthington brought in a new pitcher, but the Monarchs had no trouble picking up hits on their first three at-bats.
They scored two runs on a double and single to creep the score forward to 9-0.
With a runner at second and third, the Cardinals opted to intentionally walk Burns to lead the bases.
Worthington got a popfly to centerfield for the second out of the inning.
The Cardinals couldn’t find the third out when Alden Prohaska plated the Monarchs’ 10th run with a walkoff free pass to end the game in the sixth inning.
Blake said his team has grown this season and sees it transferring to the field.
“The comfort level is much greater now than it was at the beginning of the year and you can just see it,” he said. “The more we play together, the guys are getting to know each other and it is showing itself between the lines.”
The Monarchs are scheduled to return to action Wednesday at Olentangy Berlin.
TW 000 000 0 4 1
MHS 211 213 10 14 1
WP-Christian