LIMA — It was like watching an avalanche rolling down a mountain.
Once Grand Lake got going, the Lima Locos couldn’t stop it.
Grand Lake scored seven runs in the eighth inning in a 9-0 victory over the Locos on Friday night before a packed house at Simmons Field.
“We’ve seen that a lot of times this year already with momentum and how the offense snowballs, but this time we were on the wrong side of it,” Locos coach Chad Ehrnsberger said. “They had a couple of things go their way, then it seemed they had everything go their way.”
Grand Lake (13-4) moved one-half game in front of the Locos (13-5) for first place in the North Division of the Great Lakes Collegiate League. Grand Lake is 3-0 against Lima this year.
Locos starter Cas Silber (High Point) trailed 2-0 entering the eighth, but gave up four straight hits to start the eighth. There were also two Locos errors in the inning, and by the time it was over, Silber had been charged with six runs, five earned.
Grand Lake starter Joe Filosa (Ohio Dominican) spotted his fastball and mixed in a slider to toss eight shutout innings. He gave up six hits, struck out nine and walked none. Filosa threw 101 pitches, 67 for strikes.
“He commanded the strike zone with two pitches and really that’s all you need every day,” Grand Lake coach Chris O’Neill said. “The guys who do that put you in a good position to win.”
Added Filosa, “We had a game plan to attack. They are real aggressive. I throw a two-seam and a four-seam fastball and the two-seam was moving a lot more so I stuck with that. … I probably threw 75 to 80 percent fastballs.”
In the eighth for Grand Lake, a single by Thomas Lindeman and a throwing error gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead. Noah Sadler’s RBI double made it 4-0. Lindeman scored from third on a wild pitch and it was 5-0.
Nick Zouras reached on an error by the Locos first baseman and it was 6-0. Bill Sager’s sacrifice fly kicked the lead to 7-0. Tyler Webster and Michael Brown added bloop RBI singles and the lead grew to 9-0.
“Those are special innings,” O’Neill said.
Silber cruised through the first five innings without giving up a hit.
Grand Lake designated hitter Michael Brown broke up the no-hitter with one out in the sixth when he hit a solo home run to left. That gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Brown went 3 for 3 with two RBI.
With the game scoreless, the Locos left a man at second in the first, had two on and didn’t score in the second and left a man at second in the third.
“We didn’t execute with guys in scoring position,” Ehrnsberger said. “We didn’t do the little things to get guys in and I think if we score those first few innings, the game ends differently. We let those opportunities get away.”
Locos notes: Locos first baseman Logan Quimuyog (James Madison) is fifth in the league in hitting with a .397 average. He’s also second in the league in runs (20) and fourth in hits (27). Quimuyog’s dad, Mark, was a Locos assistant coach in 1988 and ’89 under Darren Mazeroski, the son of Pirates great Bill Mazeroski. Mark Quimuyog, who was at the game Friday night, lives in Florida and is now a regional scouting supervisor with the Minnesota Twins.
Locos outfielder Jared Nixon is fourth in the league in steals with eight. … Locos closer Nick Spear leads the league in saves with four. … Nick Ernst is third in strikeouts (18). Ernst and Connor Curlis are tied for the league lead in wins with three.
Locos first baseman Jacob Corso returned to the lineup as the DH on Friday after missing over a week with an ankle injury.
The Locos hit with a new batting cage Friday. It was their first new cage since playing at Simmons Field.
Next up: The Locos are at Southern Ohio in Athens today and Sunday.
