LIMA – There are no pictures in the scorebook so the ninth inning single off the bat of David Chabut looks like a 330-foot double off the fence.
Chabuts’ two out infield single drove in Ross Adolph with the deciding run as the Lima Locos knocked off the Irish Hills Leprechans to win 4-3 and complete a six-game home stand with a 6-0 record that improves them to 10-3 on the season in Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League action.
The Locos looked to have the game in hand as they went to the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead; thanks to a solid pitching effort by Channing Nesbitt who went 5.0 innings and one inning each by Jacob Hulcher and Nathan Dupree.
Lima third baseman Colin Stolly (LCC/Ohio Weselyan) gave the Locos a 1-0 with a home run to the right field bull pen in the bottom of the third inning. Stolly would go on to record a 3-for-5 game in addition to two runs batted in.
The Leprechans got to reliever Eric Hepple in the bottom of the ninth with three straight singles before Locos manager Chad Ehrnsberger brought in Nick Spear in relief. But Spear fought control issues and walked two batters; and suddenly the game was tied a 3-3, before Spear settled down and escaped the inning without further damage.
Adolph reached via a walk with out in the bottom of the ninth and stole second base to get into scoring position. A ground out by Colin Stolly moved Adolph to third base with two outs and Chabut promptly hit a high chopper to third base that easily beat out for an infield walk-off single.
“It goes down as shot and it feels great,” Chabut said. “I’ve been struggling a bit at the plate but have stayed focused on my defense.”
The game winning hit gave Chabut a 3-for-5 night at the plate.
The Locos swept the home stand with a combination of solid pitching, outstanding defense, and timely hitting.
A perfect example of all three came in the top of the fourth inning when Irish Hills loaded the bases with no outs.
Nesbitt settled in an induced a fly ball to shallow foul territory down the right field line that Adolph caught and fired a strike to home to hold the runners from advancing. A line drive was then nabbed by Chabut before Nesbitt got the final out of the inning on a fly ball to right that was caught by Adolph and the Locos escaped the potential jam unscathed.
Nesbitt threw 71 pitches in his five innings of work with 43 of them for strikes.
Ehrnsberger was pleased with the sweep and the resiliency of the Locos.
“Anytime you get a win it feels good,” Ehrnsberger said. “Tonight, even not at our best, we found a way to win. Stolly is one of our best hitters and playing good third base. We went 6-0 with great pitching, good defense, and scoring when we needed to.”
The Locos now go on the road to meet the Galion Graders tonight at Galion.
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