Lima scores three in ninth to drop Xenia

XENIA — Lima Locos runner Sam Russell never slowed up.

And the Locos continued their magical summer.

Russell scored from second on a fielder’s choice grounder in the home ninth inning to give the Locos a 4-3 walk-off victory over Xenia in the opening game of pool play Wednesday in the Great Lakes Collegiate playoffs at Grady’s Field.

The GLCL regular-season champion Locos scored three in the home ninth to post the victory.

“That was awesome,” Locos coach Rob Livchak said.

With pinch-runner Russell on second and J.D. Ashbrook on first with one out, Ryan Bridges hit a slow grounder to short. Xenia shortstop Andrew Douglas flipped to second baseman Phil Shallenberger for one out, but Shallenberger’s throw to first bounced and the first baseman couldn’t handle the throw.

Russell hit a jet stream rounding third and slid home easily with the game-winning run before the throw. He was immediately mobbed at home plate by the Locos.

“Rob (Livchak) tells us to round it hard every time because you can’t assume a double play,” Russell said. “He bobbled it and it was chaos after that. I was going hard the whole way. … We got a great group of guys. We gave everything we had. We were down the entire game and battled back.”

Trailing 3-1 to start the ninth, Kent Myer doubled to left with one out. Tristan Moore singled to deep short. Chris Sosebee stayed on his hot streak with an RBI single to left and the Locos were within 3-2. Russell then ran for Sosebee.

Asbrook’s RBI single to left tied the game at 3 and set up Bridges’ game-winning fielder’s choice.

Sosebee went 3 for 5 for the Locos. Anthony Toth was 2 for 5. Tristan Moore was 2 for 4.

Ajay Meyer, the GLCL pitcher of the year, overcame his throwing error, to toss a complete-game victory. Meyer gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits. Using his variety of sidearm pitches, he struck out four and walked two. Meyer threw 99 pitches, 72 for strikes.

“I can’t say enough about what Ajay did,” Livchak said. “He was a lot stronger after six than he was at first.”

Xenia jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third. Bryan Lucas singled. Andrew Douglas hit a come-backer to Meyer, who fired a bouncer to second that got away for an error. With one out, Meyer walked Robby Kuzdale to load the bases.

Herman Watkins followed with a three-run triple down the right-field line to give the Scouts a 3-0 lead.

The Locos got one run in the home fifth. Bridges’ RBI groundout to second brought the Locos within 3-1.

The Locos overcame leaving 11 runners on base, including nine in the first five innings.

“We pick each other up,” Sosebee. “We have faith in each other that we’ll get the job done.”

The Locos will be without second baseman Eric Charles today. He was ejected after he argued being out at first base on a close play in the eighth inning. The GLCL rule is any player ejected from a game must sit out the next game.

Locos notes: In other first-day pool games Wednesday, Southern Ohio defeated Licking County 5-2 and Cincinnati edged Grand Lake, 3-2.

In their second pool game, the Locos will meet Southern Ohio at 7 p.m. today at Xenia. The Locos wrap up pool play with a 4 p.m. game Friday against Licking County.

The top-seeded Locos will be the home team throughout the tournament.

AIA’s Grady’s Field: The Athletes in Action baseball field is all field turf, including the infield, outfield and batter’s box. The infield and batter’s box are painted brown. The only dirt is the mound. The complex added a $300,000 covered grandstand with chair-back seats this year.