Lima Locos Ryan Yingst talks with catcher Brice Estep from the mound during Wednesday’s game at Simmons Field.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA – The Locos’ three-game winning came to an end on Wednesday evening with a 2-1 loss to Xenia, a team that made its first regular-season appearance in Lima since the 2016 summer season.
Dominant pitching was the theme of the night for the Scouts who got five shutout innings from starter Brenden Holland (Lourdes University). Holland struck out nine hitters and for the final four frames, Christopher McClean (Biola University) and Blake Wentz (Biola University) limited the Locos to one unearned run on five hits out of the bullpen.
“We just couldn’t get anything going tonight,” said Locos coach Chad Ehrnsberger. “Give their pitcher credit. He was getting six inches off the plate each way and he kept throwing it there. We have some really good hitters here and our guys need to do a better job of adjusting to things like that.”
Xenia combined its strong pitching effort with just enough hitting to get the job done.
Troy Lynch (Minnesota Duluth University) doubled in the top of the fourth to collect his second hit of the evening and Kaden Wu (Belmont University) followed with a double of his own to plate the first run of the game. Lynch and Wu combined to reach base safely six times on Wednesday night.
The Scouts scratched across a second run in the seventh when Zach Zarko (LeTourneau University) drew a bases-loaded walk.
Locos starter Ryan Yingst (Tiffin University) took the loss, but nearly matched his counterpart’s effort in his first start in over 23 months.
Yingst threw four innings and allowed one earned run on five hits. Through his first 9 2/3 innings of the summer, the Locos lefty has limited opponents to two earned runs on five hits.
“I think the biggest thing for me has been trusting the defense behind me and pitching to contact,” said Yingst. “I was shooting for four or five innings, but with how hot it was tonight, I was glad to get four innings in.”
“It’s the second time in a row that he’s pitched really well and it’s been great to see,” said Ehrnsberger of his starter. “He’s put in a ton of work, and to see him have success makes me feel good for him. He pitched well enough to win and you can’t ask for much more than that.”
Lima plated its only run of the game in the eighth inning when Liam Richards (Yavapai College) singled to score Justin Gorski (Miami University), but a late comeback attempt fell short in the ninth when Gorski struck out with runners at first and second to end the game.
On Thursday night, the Locos travel to Xenia for the rubber match of the three-game series against the Scouts before returning to Simmons Field on Friday night to face the league-leading Hamilton Joes.
Box score (r-h-e)
Xenia 000100100 2-7-1
Lima 000000010 1-8-1
Xenia 2 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Zach Zarko 3-0-0-1, Jake McNamara 4-0-0-0, Noah Ruiz 4-0-1-0, Will Lawrence 5-0-0-0, Connor Donohue 3-0-0-0, Jacob Winzenread 1-0-0-0, Troy Lynch 2-1-2-0, Chase Eakes 3-0-2-0, Bo Solley 1-1-0-0, Kaden Wu 4-0-2-1, Isaac Veal 2-0-0-0, Harrison Barnes 0-0-0-0, Totals: 32-2-7-2.
Lima 1 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Justin Gorski 5-1-1-0, Liam Richards 4-0-2-1, Blake Bowen 4-0-1-0, Sebastian Alexander 2-0-0-0, Kaden Brown 4-0-1-0, Brice Estep 3-0-0-0, Brook Wright 1-0-0-0, Tagger Tyson 4-0-0-0, Landon Tate 4-0-2-0, Bo Shinkle 4-0-1-0, Totals: 35-1-8-1
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)
W — Brenden Holland (1-1) 5.0-3-0-0-1-9
L —Ryan Yingst (0-1) 4.0-5-1-1-1-3
S — Blake Wentz (2) 2.0-4-1-0-0-2
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com
