Grand Lake splits DH with Licking County

CELINA - The beer was flowing Friday night at Montgomery Field.

As for the Grand Lake Mariners, they sipped on sweet victory and also tasted bitter defeat.

Tristan Haught threw a complete-game gem as Grand Lake opened Friday's doubleheader with a 1-0, seven-inning victory over the Licking County Settlers. In the late game, Licking County scored three runs in the fifth while three different pitchers continuously worked out of jams in a 3-1 win.

The Settlers (11-5) maintained first place in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League South Division. Grand Lake (5-6) is now tied for second with St. Clair in the North Division.

After back-to-back rainouts, the Mariners finally unveiled "The Galley," a beer garden just outside the first base fence supported by local breweries Tailspin Brewing Company, Moeller Brew Barn and Lake Rat Brewing. Parkway graduate Kurt Krall, a current Alabama resident, made the first-ever beer purchase at a Mariners game, Grand Lake Mariners General Manager John Dorner said.
Game 2

In Game 2, Licking County pitcher Ryan Duncan worked out of jams in the first two innings, but Grand Lake's Noah Thigpen led off the third with a double to the right center gap. He advanced to third on a ground ball by Jared Burick and scored on Oliver Campbell's fly to right.

Grand Lake starter and Versailles graduate Noah Richard escaped a couple early threats, included a bases-loaded jam in the first, to hold Licking County scoreless over four innings. He gave up a hit and a walk in the fifth, leaving the mound in favor of Brad Calhoun with two outs. Stephen Krause followed with a hard-hit ball to left, which outfielder Carson Eddy dove for and couldn't keep in front of him, allowing two runs to score. Krause came home shortly after on an error for a 3-1 lead.

"We're short staffed right now. We've had some injuries and stuff," Grand Lake coach Damon Haecker said. "(Richard) did a really good job of grinding through some stuff and really did a nice job with his pitch count getting up there. He's going to throw again in five or six days. … I can blame that one on me, maybe pulling him one batter too soon."

The Settlers' designated hitter, Justin Perez, pitched a scoreless fifth. He recorded two outs in the sixth before being pulled in favor of Nick Meyer after giving up singles to Will David and Eddy. Meyer struck out Jared Hunt to end the inning. 

Meyer shut down the Mariners in the seventh for a save.

"We just didn't hit the ball with runners in scoring position," Haecker said. "We had a guy at second base, I think, three times and we struck out. Not to mention we had 10 strikeouts as a team in seven innings."

Richard, who pitches for Owens Community College in the spring, walked five and struck out two as he fell to 1-1 on the season. Thigpen and David each had two hits for Grand Lake.

Game 1

Tristan Haught had his no-hit bid broken up with one out in the fifth. 

By Urban Meyer's son.

The legendary Ohio State football coaches' son, Nate Meyer, singled in the fifth, but that was all Haught allowed in the game. 

Haught struck out seven and walked two in his complete-game one-hitter.

"He pitched really well," Haecker said. "He threw to contact early, kept his pitch count down, threw a lot of strikes and let our defense play, especially on the infield. And then they had the hit right back up the middle (by Meyer). But I thought he did a really good job and kept us in the game."

Through two starts, Haught (1-0) now has a 0.56 earned run average.

The game's lone run was scored by Thigpen, who drew a third-inning walk and went home on a flyout to right by Logan Adams.

Grand Lake hosts Xenia this weekend, with today's game beginning at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday's at 4:05 p.m. The Galley will be open both games.