Roughriders come back to beat Redskins

ST. MARYS - Before it sent a single batter to the plate, St. Marys was staring up at a 5-0 deficit.

That didn't faze the Roughriders.

Pitcher Andrew Ibrahim bore down and didn't give up another hit before giving way to Dylan Trogdlon in the fourth, and the two of them kept St. Henry from pulling away as the Roughriders came back to earn a 13-6 win in a battle of area baseball teams at K.C. Geiger Park on Monday.

"The problem we've had the last few games is giving up the big inning, and we started off down five, give up the big inning right off the bat," St. Marys coach Adam Graves said. "The goal was, we had to start putting zeros up on the board, and then give ourselves an opportunity to start chipping away and get back into the game."

The comeback started in the bottom of the first, when catcher Joey Caldwell hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and no outs. But right away Redskins pitcher Devin Delzeith induced a 6-4-3 double play to escape the jam.

The Roughriders picked up another run in the third before breaking through in the bottom of the fourth. Two quick hits and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, and Braedan Trogdlon and Dylan Trogdlon each singled to make it 6-5 and drive Delzeith from the game.

"Their three and four (Dylan Trogdlon and Caldwell) are really good hitters, and they hit the ball really hard a few times against us," St. Henry coach Mike Gast said. "I'd much rather lose like that than with 10 walks and five errors. They earned that win. I thought we were solid today, not great, but we're taking steps to getting better, which I like."

Grant Kunkler's first pitch was a passed ball that moved Dylan Trogdlon to second, and Caldwell poked the ball through the left side of the infield to put runners on the corners. Two pitches later, Caldwell took off for second and was thrown out, but Dylan Trogdlon came home from third for an insurance run.

But the insurance wasn't necessary, as the Roughriders added six more runs on three hits in the last two innings. The Redskins put together a brief rally in the top of the seventh, as pinch-hitter Mark Knapke drew a leadoff walk and the next three batters singled, scoring Knapke and loading the bases. But that was as close as it got, as the next three hitters went down without bringing home another run.

Delzeith, a freshman, took the loss for St. Henry after giving up seven runs on eight hits over 3 ⅓ innings. Four of those hits and five runs came in the bottom of the fourth after he stranded four runners over the first three innings.

"He battled through some adversity with some runners in scoring position," Gast said. "I thought he showed some really good poise and body language on the mound for a freshman, which was fantastic."

For St. Marys, the win snaps a four-game losing streak heading into today's Western Buckeye League contest with Wapakoneta. St. Henry drops to .500 with the loss, with a chance to bounce back tomorrow when it returns home to the Wally Post Athletic Complex for a Midwest Athletic Conference game with New Bremen.