By Gary R. Rasberry
grasberry@dailystandard.com LIMA -- What was a make-or-break week for Grand Lake concluded with the makes easily beating out the breaks.
Grand Lake used a strong relief outing from David Zachary and scored clutch runs to beat Lima in a Sunday evening single game, 6-4, at Shawnee High School.
The win, the fifth in seven games, puts the Mariners at 24-14 while Lima, looking to tie the team record for wins with 26, instead falls to 25-11 with the loss.
The Mariners had a week that had three doubleheaders planned along with single games with Indianapolis, Columbus and the Locos. While a rainout on Thursday gave Grand Lake a break, Sunday's win was big after losing a pair of one-run games to Columbus on Friday.
"I think that's 13 out of our last 16 that we won," said Mariners skipper Mike Stafford. "We're playing pretty good. We hope we can carry that though next week and to the playoffs (starting Aug. 1 in Columbus)." Zachary improved to 5-1 on the season after entering the game in the third. Aaron Tennyson, who had controlled the Locos in previous starts before leaving due to pitch counts, went the first two innings and did not allow a run while giving up three hits. Tennyson began to experience a stiff back, prompting Stafford to make the pitching change.
Zachary allowed a pair of runs in the fourth before rattling off a streak of 11 straight outs that lasted until the bottom of the eighth when Lima made a minor rally.
Mark Abro started things off with a double before the Mariners recorded back-to-back outs on a Marc Franz groundout and a Justin Carter fly out. Tony Kennedy then grounded to Michael Bertram at third, but the throw went wide, allowing Abro to score and sending Kennedy to second and cutting the Mariners lead to 5-3.
Don Chaney then came up and singled home Kennedy to make it a one-run game, bringing back painful memories of July 5 when the Mariners had a 6-0 leading going into the bottom of the eighth at Lima, only to have the Locos score seven times for the win.
Zachary made sure the memories would evaporate, getting pinch-hitter Drew Shamrock to strike out to end the threat.
In need of insurance, the Mariners went into the top of the ninth having to face Lima relief ace Rony Mercado. After Billy Grace flied out and Aaron Bulkley struck out, Andy Hudak ‰ who came into play first in the fifth, stepped up and took Mercado's 2-1 pitch over the left-center wall to make it 6-4. The run was just the second Mercado had allowed this season.
Despite giving up two unearned runs in the eighth, Zachary came out in the ninth, striking out Ryan Steinbach, then getting Alan Cattrysse to ground to second before striking out Derek Manley to end the game.
Zachary struck out five and walked just two to get the win, drawing plenty of praise from Stafford.
"Aaron's back started tightening on him and David came in and gave us seven great innings," said Stafford. "He did a great job of picking up the slack.
"The way (Zachary) was going, you had to keep him in. He was up to 99 pitches and he's never gone past 100. I thought he was the best chance for us to win this game."
The Mariners got on the board first when Billy Grace came home on a Phil Disher single off starter and loser Caleb Thompson, who allowed four runs through five innings. Thompson ran into trouble in the second when he walked three in the inning, including one to Grace with the bases loaded to score Bertram. Bulkley brought Jon Hatfield home with a single to make it 3-0. John Franzese hit a sacrifice fly in his final plate appearance of the day in the fifth to score Grace.
Grace had just one official at-bat on the day -- walking three times and getting hit by a pitch -- but scored two runs and earned an RBI.
Grand Lake returns to action tonight at Jim Hoess Field as the Columbus All-Americans come to town.
FRIDAY'S GAMES: Grand Lake's four-game win streak came to an end on Friday with a pair of one-run losses to Columbus at Bill Davis Stadium.
In game one, Ross Lierseman allowed just five hits and struck out five, but Robert Benjamin and Trey Fausnaugh combined for a three-hitter as the All-Americans won 1-0. The winning run scored when Matt Repec, who reached on a single, scored on a Kurt Kapferer single in the bottom of the second inning.
In the second game, Columbus scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to get the sweep with a 3-2 win. Evan Smith threw two wild pitches in the inning to score both runs.
Phil Disher hit a solo home run in the fourth while Grace added an RBI single in the third.
Derek Witt went the distance to get his fourth win for Columbus |
