Clay takes advantage of jet-lagged Flyers in SOC showdown

IRONTON — So that’s what jet lag does to you.

With most of the team’s players only a few days removed from a school trip to the Vatican among other sites, the St. Joseph Flyers played like they just got home early Wednesday morning.

Which they did.

Looking sluggish and guilty of six errors, the Flyers fell 18-5 to the Portsmouth Clay Panthers in an Ohio Southern Conference 1 game on Friday.

"When you don't play or practice for nearly two weeks, you're definitely going to be behind the eight ball," said Flyers coach Nick Medinger. "But it doesn't excuse us from making mental errors in the field and you've got to find ways to overcome that."

The Panthers had 12 hits as Evan Rider went 3-5 with a double and an RBI, Noah Woods 1-4 and two RBI, Colby Secrist 2-3 with two RBI, Jackson Hannan 2-3 and an RBI, Williams 2-3 with the triple and three RBI, Cade Munion 1-3 and two RBI, London Sinclair 1-3 and an RBI, and Aidan Scharkart had an RBI.

St. Joseph (2-3, 0-2) had nine hits with Barrett Waginger went 2-4 with two RBI, Mason Weber was 2-4 with a double and an RBI, Beckham Waginger and Blake Medinger each 1-1, Evan Aldridge 1-3 with an RBI, and Carson Willis and Ian Whaley both 1-2.

Clay (8-3, 3-2) used three hits, three errors and a balk to take a 5-0 first inning lead.

Much of the damage came in the top of the order as four-straight hits from Rider, Woods, Secrist and Hannan — coupled with a fielding error and a balk — led to a quick 3-0 lead.

Williams singled in another run and a Munion reached third on a pair of errors in the field to clear the bases.

In the second, the Panthers used five more hits, two walks, two errors and a two-run triple by Corey Williams to get eight more runs in the second inning and virtually put the game away.

Saint Joseph's best inning came in the fourth when they rallied with two outs to score a pair of runs and load up the bases. However a pop out to center stranded the runners and ended any ideas of late inning heroics.

Ports. Clay 581 31 = 18 12 1

St. Joseph 011 21 = 5 9 6

Evan Rider, Colby Secrist (4) and Noah Woods. Evan Aldridge, Barrett Waginger (2), Carson Lyons (4), Mason Weber (4) and Beckham Waginger. W-Rider (IP-3.0, H-3, R-2, ER-2, K-2, BB-2). Secrist (IP-2.0, H-6, R-3, ER-3, K-1, BB-3). L-Aldridge (IP-1.1, H-8, R-10, ER-7, K-3, BB-1). Waginger (IP-1.2, H-3, R-4, ER-3, K-4, BB-4). Lyons (IP-0.2, H-0, R-3, ER-0, K-1, BB-2). Weber (IP-1.1, H-1, R-1, ER-1, K-1, BB-2). Hitting–Clay: Evan Rider 3-5 2B RBI, Noah Woods 1-4 2-RBI, Colby Secrist 2-3 2-RBI, Jackson Hannan 2-3 RBI, Corey Williams 2-4 3B 3-RBI, Cade Munion 1-3 2-RBI, Aidyn Schackart RBI, London Sinclair 1-3 RBI; St. Joseph: Barrett Waginger 2-4 2-RBI, Mason Weber 2-4 2B RBI, Beckham Waginger 1-1, Evan Aldridge 1-3 RBI, Carson Willis 1-2, Blake Medinger 1-1, Ian Whaley 1-2.