File photo - Matteo Pare of the Lima Locos pitches in a game against South Ohio earlier this season at Simmons Field. Pare was the winner on Friday night, going six shutout innings in the series opener against Grand Lake.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
CELINA – The Locos made their shortest road trip of the season on Friday evening to Montgomery Field in Celina and never trailed in the series opener, winning 9-1 over the Mariners.
Matteo Pare (Pensacola State College), the Locos ace, played a large part in that success once again by improving to 3-0 on the summer after working six shutout innings and limiting Grand Lake to just three hits on the night.
Pare put the Mariners down in order in four of the six innings he pitched and never saw more than four batters come to the plate in any inning.
“It was another productive outing. I’m just trying to stay consistent,” Pare said following the win. “I only had two strikeouts tonight, so props to our defense. I pitch with the confidence that they will play well behind me and they did that tonight.
“It’s great to win against Grand Lake. I’ve heard a little bit about this rivalry, so it feels nice to win the first one.”
All three of the hits Pare allowed were singles. He struck out two batters and didn’t issue a walk.
“Every time Matteo is on the mound we feel like we’re going to win,” said Locos coach Chad Ehensberger. “He throws strikes so as long as he stays in the zone and avoids walks and we don’t make mistakes, he’ll always give us a chance to win.”
The Locos backed up Pare’s performance with nine runs on eight hits. All but one Loco starter reached base safely.
Blake Bowen (University of Akron) drew four walks and Justin Gorski (Miami University) went 2 for 4 with one run batted in.
Brooks Wright (Louisiana Lafayette) also showed out once again for Lima, producing his fifth multi-hit game, and his second three-hit contest of the season.
Wright began the big night with a two-run single in the third inning, scoring Gorski and Bowen to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. He finished the game 3 for 4 at the plate with a walk and stolen base.
“Brooks is just a confident guy,” Ehrnsberger said. “When he has a good first at-bat, he gets immediate confidence. Momentum is a crazy thing. It can be good and bad, but when he’s confident he can put together some strong at-bats.”
Once the Locos grabbed a three-run lead, Johnny Nixon, a former Minster Wildcat who’s currently in the transfer portal, settled in on the mound for Grand Lake. He retired eight hitters in a row before Wright broke up his bid for a third consecutive 1-2-3 frame.
Nixon returned in the seventh and retired the first two batters on two pitches before running into trouble.
Bo Shinkle (Kent State University) roped a ball into center field over the diving glove of TJ Takats (Bowling Green State University). He landed on third before Gorski doubled in the next at-bat, ending Nixon’s day after seven innings of six-hit baseball.
“Johnny kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win,” Grand Lake head coach Niel Schaffner said. “He threw 91 pitches in seven innings and I don’t feel like they were getting great contact against him tonight.”
Once Grand Lake turned to its bullpen, the Locos capitalized.
Hunter Reagan (Marian University) struggled to find the strike zone and walked six batters in his one-inning appearance.
The Locos produced five runs on just two hits before the Mariners handed the reigns over to David Jimenez (University of Findlay) who got out of a bases-loaded jam.
Carter Parks (St Johns River State College) took over for Matteo Pare and limited Grand Lake to one run in three innings, getting the save after working around three hits and three walks.
The two teams will continue the series at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday night at Simmons Field. Lima is now 11-8 on the season while Grand Lake falls to 5-14.
Box score (r-h-e)
Lima Locos 003000114 9-8-0
Grand Lake Mariners 000000100 1-6-1
Lima Locos 9 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Justin Gorski 4-2-2-1, Lou Fujiwara 5-1-1-0, Blake Bowen 1-1-0-1, Sebastian Alexander 3-3-0-1, Brooks Wright 4-0-3-2, Brice Estep 3-0-0-1, Landon Tate 4-0-1-1, Caden Lockwood 5-0-0-0, Bo Shinkle 3-2-1-0, Totals: 32-9-8-7.
Grand Lake Mariners 1 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Cameron Bryant 4-0-0-0, Jackson Taylor 4-0-0-0, Stefan Di Corrado 2-1-1-0, TJ Takats 3-0-0-0, Edwin Bowman IV 4-0-1-0, Jackson Rains 4-0-3-1, Aiden Booth 4-0-0-0, Drew Emerson 3-0-0-0, Ethyn Barnitz 3-0-1-0, Totals: 31-1-6-1.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)
W — Matte Pare (3-0) 6.0-3-0-0-0-2
L — Johnny Nixon (1-3) 7.0-6-4-3-4-3
S — Carter Parks (2) 3.0-3-1-1-3-2
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com
