Settlers rough up Mariners to advance

CELINA - The Grand Lake Mariners fought their way back from deficits all season long.

On Tuesday night, though, a nine-run deficit was too large to overcome.

Kyle Hubbuch hit two home runs, including a two-run shot during a seven-run sixth inning, and Nate Schweers pitched seven innings of five-hit baseball. Despite the effort, the Licking County Settlers put an end to Grand Lake's season with an 11-4 victory in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League playoff play-in game at Montgomery Field.

The win puts the Settlers in a best-of-three semifinal series with top-seeded Lima beginning tonight at Simmons Field. In the other semifinal, Hamilton, which beat Cincinnati 3-1 on Tuesday, takes on Xenia tonight at Grady's Field at the Athletes in Action complex.

The Mariners were eliminated in the play-in game for the fourth consecutive season.

Schweers and Mariner starter Joey Filosa matched zeros on the scoreboard through the first four innings. The Settlers finally got to Filosa in the fifth, loading the bases with one out on two singles and a hit batsman. A fielder's choice RBI by Evan Burns and an infield single by Luke Phillips made the score 2-0.

A fatigued Filosa was replaced by Shawn Mills after having issued a bases-loaded walk just four batters into the sixth. Nick Vaage followed with a Texas-Leaguer RBI single against a drawn-in infield and Evan Flax made it 5-0 with a sac fly. The big blows in the inning were delivered by Phillips - a two-run double - and Hubbuch, who made it 9-0 with a two-run bomb.

Nik Zouras had two homers of his own - a two-run blast to put the Mariners on the board in the sixth and a solo shot in the eighth. Tyler Paulsen followed Zouras' at-bat in the eighth with his 12th homer of the season, but the damage was already too insurmountable.

"Unfortunately (the deficit) was a little too much tonight," said first-year Grand Lake coach Chris O'Neill. "Early on, we hit some balls hard and we just needed to keep swinging the sticks. If we were able to hold them off the board, we might've had a chance, but it's a different game when you have to come back from that much."

The Settlers totaled six hits and six runs in six innings against Filosa - a GLSCL All-Star selection - in handing him his third loss of the season.

"I think the (wear) of the season just started to show a little bit," O'Neill said. "He had trouble gripping the ball here and there. The execution of pitches wasn't there at that moment and it started to open up the door for them to score some runs."

Licking County, which finished with 14 hits, had six players with two or more hits. Hunter Nance led the way, going 3-for-4 with a double. Hubbuch hit his eighth homer of the season in the ninth to help send the Settlers to the semifinals.  

A season of close games and come-from-behind wins by the Mariners concluded with a record of 23-20.

"This is just a great team, and I love them to death," O'Neill said. "We talked about our identity and just never quitting. These guys are going to be successful in whatever area of life they decide to go into. The qualities they possess as individuals helped us become a very good team."

ALL-GLSCL: Outfielder/first baseman Tyler Paulsen was the only Mariner to earn all-league honors as the league released its All-GLSCL selections earlier on Tuesday.

Paulsen set a team record with 12 home runs while batting .284 with 38 RBIs this season.

Hamilton's Ben Spitznagel was named the Gary Henschen Player of the Year after having lead the league with a .393 batting average and scoring 52 runs. Lima's Connor Curlis (6-0, 1.06 ERA) was voted both the Lou Laslo Pitcher of the Year and Tony Lucadello Top Pitching Prospect.

Hamilton's Dane Tofteland was selected the Ron Miller Pro Player Prospect and Xenia's Bubba Cates was tabbed the Head Coach of the Year.