Bobcats outlast Flyers in extra innings to stay atop SOC

IRONTON — Green Bobcats’ coach Dave Shoupe has stopped looking. His team seems to have 20-20 vision when it comes to finding wins.

Shoupe said that throughout the season the Bobcats have kept figuring out just how to win games, and that includes a 4-3 win over the St. Joseph Flyers in a Southern Ohio Conference-1 game on Friday.

“The boys keep finding ways to win. That’s going to continue to make us more resilient and better,” said Shoupe.

“Gabe (Blevins) came in clutch when we needed him most. I’m proud of him and how much he has grown from last year to this year.”

Green moves its record to 14-1 overall and 4-1 in SOC-1. Saint Joseph falls to 6-4 and 2-3 in the SOC-1.

Blevins came through both on the mound and at the plate for the Bobcats. The junior gave up 4 hits, struck out four in 6 innings, but got a no-decision. Blevins also helped himself out at the plate with a sacrifice fly and collected 2 RBIs.

After Saint Joseph tied the game in the sixth, the Bobcats brought in Jon Knapp in relief in the seventh and pitched 3 scoreless innings.

“Gabe pitched good enough to win that game. He did a great job on the mound and has all season. Jon came in and helped hold the line while we got it done offensively,” said Shoupe.

Four other Bobcats accounted for the five other hits. Connor Blanton went 2-4 with an RBI. Uriah Satterfield had a double. Both Noah McMackin and Brennan Renison each had a hit.

The game was knotted up at 1-all until the fifth when Green took advantage of an error by the Flyers that allowed Satterfied to score from third. Then a batter later, Blevins hit a sacrifice fly to score Kase McIntyre to make the score 3-1.

The Flyers answered in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game thanks to an RBI-single by Mason Weber, and a sacrifice fly by Carson Willis.

Neither team scored in the seventh and the game moved into extra innings.

Green would finally break the tie in the top of the ninth.

Riddick Jenkins reached base on a fielders’ choice and later moved to second and ended up at third after stealing second and an error allowed him to move 90 feet closer.

Blevins stepped in and took a 1-0 pitch back up the middle to score Jenkins and put the Bobcats ahead 4-3.

In the bottom of the inning, Carson Lyons drew a walk to lead off to become the tying run.

However, Knapp retired the next three batters with 2 of the 3 going down with strikeouts to end the game and secure the win.

While the loss virtually knocked the Flyers out of contention for the league title, coach Nick Medinger was pleased with his teams’ effort after reaching a season low point just seven days ago.

“You hate to claim moral victories, but from where we were last week to tonight, I’m happy about how our kids have turned things around,” said Flyers coach Nick Medinger.

“We missed our chances to get the lead. So hopefully that experience tonight helps us down the road.”

Waginger led St. Joseph going 2-3 with an RBI. Weber had a hit and an RBI. Aldridge had a hit and Carson Willis had an RBI.

Green 010 020 001 =  4  6  3

St Joseph 001 002 000 =  3  4  3

Gabe Blevins, Jon Knapp (7) and Noah McMackin. Evan Aldridge. W-Knapp (IP-3.0, H-0, R-0, ER-0, K-5, BB-1). Blevins (IP-6.0, H-4, R-3, ER-2, K-5, BB-1, HBP-1). L-Aldridge (IP-8.1, H-6, R-4, ER-4, K-5, BB-5, HBP-3). Be. Waginger (IP-0.2, R-0, ER-0, K-0, BB-1. Hitting-Green: Gabe Blevins 1-4 2-RBI, Noah McMackin 1-5; Brennan Renison 1-3, Uriah Satterfield 1-3 2B, Connor Blanton 2-4 RBI; Saint Joseph: Beckham Waginger 2-3 RBI, Mason Weber 1-4 RBI, Evan Aldridge 1-4, Carson Willis RBI.