Bobcats blank Titans, clinch share of SOC

PORTSMOUTH — That’s a tie. Now we can think about being greedy.

The Green Bobcats used the 3-hit pitching of Gabe Blevins to blank the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans 7-0 on Thursday and clinch at least a share of the Southern Ohio Conference-1 title.

"We woke our bats up tonight," Bobcats coach Dave Shoupe. We told the boys before the game that we needed to go back to the aggressive mentality we had at the beginning of the season and they listened.

Green is 16-2 on the season and 6-1 in the SOC-1. Portsmouth Clay (14-4) is finished with its league schedule and sits at 6-2. The Bobcats need a win at St. Joseph on Monday to win the title outright and avoid sharing with Clay.

Notre Dame slipped to 10-8 and 3-4 in the league.

While going 3-4 with an RBI on the offensive side, Blevins turned in a complete game win as he struck out 5 and walked just 2.

Jon Knapp was 1-3 with a grand slam home run and a sacrifice fly as he drove in 5 runs. Mason Neal, Kase McIntyre and Uriah Satterfield were all 1-3 and Riddick Jenkins 1-4 with an RBI.

"Jon did a great job both with the bat and on defense. He made solid plays at first tonight," said Shoupe.

"Gabe is a workhorse. He does such a good job on the mound and it really compliments Jon."

Luke Cassidy took the loss as he went the distance. He gave up 6 hits, 6 earned runs with 5 strikeouts and one walk. Green scored 5 of their runs in the seventh inning.

Jaxon Stombock, Carter Ingles and Sawyer Rutman all went 1-3 for Notre Dame.

Green went ahead 1-0 in the first inning when Jenkins walked, Neal singled, Blevins walked to load the bases and Knapp hit a sacrifice fly.

The score remained that way until the sixth inning.

Blevins got a leadoff single, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored when Noah McMackin grounded out to shortstop.

The Bobcats put the game away with the 5-run rally in the seventh.

Statterfield singled, Conner Blanton put down a sacrifice bunt, McIntyre singled to put runners on the corners and Jenkins had an RBI single.

Neal was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Knapp slammed a 1-0 pitch over the fence to clear the bases.

Notre Dame only posed a threat in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Stombock singled, Warren Kelly hit into a fielder’s choice, Luke Hamilton lined out, Ingles singled but Connor Estep grounded out to end the inning.

Green 100 001 5 = 7 8 0

Notre Dame 000 000 0 = 0 3 3

Gabe Blevins and Noah McMackin. Luke Cassidy and Carter Ingles. W-Blevins (IP-7.0, H-3, R-0, ER-0, K-5, BB-2). L-Cassidy (IP-7.0, H-8, R-7, ER-6, K-5, BB-1). Hitting–Green: Mason Neal 1-3, Riddick Jenkins 1-4 RBI, Gabe Blevins 3-4 RBI, Jon Knapp 1-3 HR 5-RBI, Uriah Satterfield 1-3, Kase McIntyre 1-3; Notre Dame: Jaxon Stombock 1-3, Carter Ingles 1-3, Sawyer Rutman 1-3.