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Grand Lake's Emerson Bowman IV slides into the plate as Hamilton catcher Tommy Harrison waits to apply the tag in the third inning at Montgomery Field on Wednesday. Bowman was tagged out trying to score the tying run.
CELINA - Grand Lake mustered a massive comeback against the best team in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on Wednesday night, but it wasn't able to ride the momentum to a win.
Hamilton pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning, the Mariners had the tying run thrown out at home in the eighth, and the Joes prevailed 10-9 at Montgomery Field.
"We're battling and we're doing the right things," Grand Lake coach Neil Schaffner said. "Every game now, we're getting there."
After Grand Lake (5-12) stormed back to tie the game at 9 in the sixth, Hamilton got a leadoff walk from Tommy Harrison, who then stole second. Reliever Hunter Reagan struck out Eli Kieser before giving way to J.T. Fabian, coming out of the bullpen for the first time this season.
Fabian got Bryce Habuda to hit a slow grounder to shortstop, where Austyn Peak fired an off-balance throw to first. Habuda beat it out, and the ball skittered into foul territory, allowing Harrison to dash home.
Grand Lake shortstop Austyn Peak positions himself to field a ground ball against Hamilton.
Drew Emerson lined into a double play to end the home seventh. Pinch-hitter Jackson Taylor led off the eighth with a single through the left side, then stole second and went to third on a groundout.
Stefan Di Corrado smacked a ground ball to Habuda, playing in at second. Taylor was off at the crack of the bat, but Habuda's throw got to Harrison at the plate in time for the out.
"He's going on ground-ball contact there," Schaffner said. "We're using his speed and being aggressive at that point. Make them make a play, and he made the play. But it was a bang-bang play. So we're being aggressive in that situation right there, with one out."
T.J. Takats worked a leadoff walk in the ninth, but was left standing on first as Jackson Rains flew out to shallow left field and Peak and Aiden Booth struck out swinging to end the game.
None of that would have mattered, however, without Grand Lake's six-run comeback. After Brayden Fraasman hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth to make it 9-3, the Mariners broke out the bats in the bottom half.
Takats led off with a single, Rains walked and Peak hit a bloop single to load the bases. Takats then scored on a wild pitch, and Booth singled to right, where Fraasman lost the ball as two more runs scored.
Emerson hit a flare down the right field line for another single, chasing starter Parker Dillhoff. Matty Helms came in and hit Parker Redden with a pitch, loading the bases again with no outs, and Andrew Kell walked to force in a run.
Grand Lake's Parker Redden swings at a pitch Wednesday.
After a strikeout, Edwin Bowman IV came up and sent a drive to the wall in left field, scoring two more with a double. That chased Helms, bringing in Hamilton closer Jared Teke. Take struck out Takats before Rains sent a deep fly ball to left-center field, where Paul Osting caught it about 365 feet from home plate and a foot from the fence for the third out.
"We took advantage of their pitching, we hit mistakes, we hit the ball hard," Schaffner said. "I think things are starting to come around, for sure."
The Mariners had a chance to tie the game in the third, when Kell hit an RBI double and two throwing errors on Dillhoff extended the inning. Kell scored on the second error and Takats hit an RBI single, but Bowman was thrown out trying to score behind Di Corrado to keep the Joes in front 4-3.
Reagan took the loss, throwing 2 1/3 innings of relief and allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits and two walks. Fabian went 1 2/3, and though he allowed the first three batters to reach in the eighth, the Mariners retired two on the base paths and Fabian struck out Jamie Palmese to keep the game tied at 1.
St. Henry grad Ryan Uhlenhake then gave up one hit and struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Starter Hayden Bush was charged with six earned runs on six hits and three walks in four-plus innings.
One area Schaffner highlighted for his pitchers was allowing runners to advance on wild pitches. Bush had one and Reagan was guilty of five, while Redden had a passed ball.
"We've got to make sure we're not giving up free bases, if it's a wild pitch here or a passed ball there, so we keep double plays in order," he said.
Takats, Booth and Emerson had two hits apiece.
Grand Lake and Hamilton play at Foundation Field tonight, with a chance for the Mariners to win their first series of the season and to send the league-leading Joes to their first series loss. Longtime Mariner rival Lima comes to Montgomery Field on Friday for the start of a three-game weekend series. Saturday's game will be in Lima with the wrap-up on Sunday back in Celina.
