Tuesday, July 25th, 2023
Mariners win finale
By Gary R. Rasberry
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Grand Lake scored six times in the top of the second inning to take the lead and cruised to an 14-8 win over Hamilton in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League regular season finale at Foundation Field in Hamilton.
The win allows the Mariners to post 20 wins on the season at 20-18 and have their first winning season since 2017 when the team went 23-19. The loss denied the Joes a chance to take first place in the South Division after Cincinnati beat Xenia to have both the Joes and Scouts finish at 21-17.
The Joes scored three runs in the bottom of the first, but the Mariners came back with six in the top of the second. After tying the game on Aaron Walton's RBI single that scored Michael Bittinger, Joe Kido scored when Ivan Hoyt reached on an error to put Grand Lake in front 4-3. Nick Kemper then doubled in two runs to make it 6-3.
Grand Lake added three runs in the fifth when Parker Bates scored on a fielder's chpoice and Ethan Spolarich and Bittinger scored on a Kido single.
Grand Lake added a run in the sixth and two runs each in the eighth and ninth.
St. Henry grad Ryan Uhlenhake started and went 3 1/3 innings in allowing four runs with seven walks and eight strikeouts. Evan Weaver came on and pitched 4 2/3 innings of one-hit relief with seven strikeouts.
Bittinger came on to pitch the ninth and gave up four runs before Bittinger got the final out to end the game.
Hayden Robbins and Bittinger each went 3-fpr-6 with two RBI for Grand Lake. Spolarich went 3-for-4 with an RBI while Kido and Walton each had two hits.
The GLSCL playoffs begin Wednesday. Muskegon will take on Lima in the North Division series while Hamilton and Xenia will play in the South Division series.
LINESCORE
Grand Lake 060 031 022 - 14 15 0
Hamilton 300 100 004 - 8 7 5
WP - Weaver
LP - Johnson
2B - GL: Kemper, Hutchins, Spolarich. H: Hoffman.
Records: Grand Lake 20-18, Hamilton 21-17.
