Brooks Wright of the Lima Locos hits against the Hamilton Joes during Sunday’s game at Simmons Field.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA – On Sunday evening at Simmons Field, the Lima Locos turned in their best all-around effort of the summer, resulting in an 11-2 victory over first-place Hamilton in the finale of a three-game series.
It all started on the mound with starter Chase Jarnagin (College of Charleston), who locked in after struggling through his first inning of work. Jarnagin pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed a pair of earned runs on four hits en route to his second win.
Both of those runs came in the first inning where Jamie Palmese (East Tennessee State) and Brayden Fraasman (North Carolina State University) each got on with a hit before Paul Osting (Lincoln Trail College) drove them in.
Hamilton had an early 2-0 lead but the Locos answered in a hurry, recording three runs in the first four innings and blowing the game wide open with a three-run fifth.
Blake Bowen (University of Akron) entered play leading the Locos with 14 hits, and he added three more to his total on Sunday evening.
Bowen started his night with an RBI single, scoring Bo Shinkle (Kent State University) for the first Locos run. Landon Tate (Kennesaw State) drove in the tying run in the second inning.
“We have good hitters, just sometimes we have bad approaches,” Locos coach Chad Ehrnsberger said. “I got on them last night, and the entire team showed up early for workouts this morning. They want to get better, and they have the talent, we just have to have the right approach and they did that.”
With the score at 2-2, Jarnagin was able to settle into his comfort zone on the mound.
The Locos lefty hurled four consecutive 1-2-3 innings and retired 13 batters in a row.
Jarnagin’s day ended in the fifth inning after he allowed a leadoff single and walked the next batter.
“I felt better today than I did during my previous outings,” said Jarnagin. “Once I found my fastball, I felt like it was pretty much over. I started locating better, and the batters were giving us easy ground balls and putouts.”
Griffin Howe (St John River State College) inherited Jarnagin’s two base-runners and immediately shut down Hamilton’s bats.
Howe let Brayden Fraasman (North Carolina State University) reach on a single before Ryan Novak (Miami University) scorched a ball to first base that was snagged by Caden Lockwood (Ball State University), who doubled up Fraasman at first to get out of the jam.
Howe went on to put the Joes down in order over the final three innings of relief to get the save.
“Combined, our pitchers only threw 99 pitches and allowed five hits and two runs,” Ehrsnberger said. “When you can throw strikes and be efficient, good things are going to happen.
“We also have a good defense, and a lot of the errors we made early in the season have been after a lot of walks. I can tell you from my own experience, when you are a defensive player, and your pitcher is walking guys, it’s just natural that you lose focus and that’s where errors happen.”
Nathan Ciemny (University of Wisconsin Parkside) got the start for Hamilton and lasted four innings. He allowed a trio of earned runs on five hits before the Joes went to the pen.
Parker Dillhoff (Northwest Florida State College) entered in relief, and the Locos found success off the 6-4 lefthander from Lebanon, Ohio.
Lima’s first five batters reach base safely. Liam Richards (Yavapai College) and Caden Lockwood each collected RBIs in the fifth to give the Locos their first lead of the series at 6-2.
“We have to put together team at-bats,” said Ehrnsberger. “I’ve always been raised with the approach that home runs are mishits, and I truly believe that. I want low hard-line drives, and that should be the goal. When these guys have the right approach, they are good hitters and can also draw some walks.”
Things only got worse for the visiting Joes in the eighth as Lima nearly enforced the run-rule.
The Locos batted around in the inning and scored five runs on six hits. Blake Bowen added his second RBI triple of the game, finishing 3 for 5 at the plate. Two-hit performances were also turned in by Sebastian Alexander and Brooks Wright.
The Locos (7-8) are off on Monday due to a league-wide rest day before traveling to Woodhaven High School in Michigan on Tuesday night to take on the Monarchs.
Box score (r-h-e)
Hamilton 200000000 2-5-2
Lima 11013005x 11-14-0
Hamilton 2 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Braxton Baird 4-0-1-0, Jamie Palmese 3-1-1-0, Brayden Fraasman 4-1-2-0, Ryan Novak 4-0-0-0, Paul Osting 3-0-1-2, Cam Gilkerson 3-0-0-0, Bryce Habuda 3-0-0-0, Tommy Harrison 3-0-0-0, Eli Kieser 3-0-0-0, Totals: 30-2-5-2.
Lima 11 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Bo Shinkle 4-1-0-0, Lou Fujiwara 4-1-1-1, Blake Bowen 5-1-3-2, Sebastian Alexander 4-2-2-1, Brooks Wright 5-2-2-1, Brice Estep 4-1-1-0, Liam Richards 5-1-1-1, Caden Lockwood 3-1-1-0, Landon Tate 4-1-3-2, Totals: 38-11-14-8
Pitching (ip-r-h-er-bb-so)
W — Chase Jarnigan (2-1) 5.1-4-2-2-1-1
L — Nathan Ciemny (1-1) 4.0-5-3-3-4-1
S — Griffin Howe (1) 3.2-1-0-0-0-0
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com
