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LIMA – A late charge from Galion wasn’t enough to derail the Lima Locos.
The Locos took command early and held on late to beat the Graders 9-7 at Simmons Field on Wednesday.
The Locos move to 9-5 overall, 1.5 games back of first-place Southern Ohio (11-4) while the Graders fall to 4-9.
The Locos’ offense came out hot, scoring eight runs off six hits in the first three innings to give starting pitcher Travis Edgar a nice cushion.
Edgar took it from there with a solid effort. The 6-foot-7 righty didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning and gave up just two walks prior to that.
“I felt real good, real confident,” Edgar said. “My arm felt great through the whole thing, I had some great defense behind me. I tend not to think about (pitching with a lead) but when I go out and we do have the lead it makes me real comfortable.”
It was similar to a 5-4 win at Galion on Tuesday night when Lima scored five times in the first two innings and held off the Graders.
It got uncomfortable in the seventh inning on Wednesday even though Galion didn’t exactly mash the ball. The Graders scored six runs on seven hits, most of which were either dribblers or perfectly placed liners, to chase Edgar before Galion batted around.
“We noticed (Edgar) getting a little tired in the sixth,” Lima manager Chad Ehrnsberger said. “But when he fought through that and only had the one hit against him, we thought we’d give him the seventh. The first couple of guys got seeing-eye singles and from there, hitting is contagious and they got some momentum. They kept putting the ball in play and found some holes.”
Galion added another run on three hits in the eighth to cut the Locos’ lead to 9-7. However, Mitchell White took the mound in the top of the seventh and shut down the rally for three-straight outs to grab his first save of the season.
Edgar got the win (1-0), allowing six earned runs, seven hits, two walks and two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings of work.
“Travis has good stuff,” Ehrnsberger said. “When he pounds the zone like that, a big guy like that with some velocity, coming from a hitter’s perspective it’s really hard to hit a guy like that.”
Lima’s offense rolled early. Will Kilgore bashed his fifth home run of the season on a solo shot in the first inning before the Locos added four runs on three hits in the second. Tyler Beckwith roped a two-run single to center while Trey Logan and Mitchell Carriger each had RBI singles.
Lima followed that with three more runs in the third when Luke Reynolds smacked an RBI single and Billy Lipari had an RBI double to put his team up 8-0.
In the final five innings, however, the Locos managed just one more run – in the sixth when Brett Murray drove in Colin Stolly with a double – on five hits.
“I want our hitters to have the mentality of burying a team,” Ehrnsberger said. “When you’re up by that many, you want to keep your foot on the gas and run them out of the field. We haven’t been doing that. We are putting it in cruise control and when we do that, the other team can sense it. And they get a couple hits and all of the sudden they have momentum.”
Carriger finished 4-for-5 with a double while first baseman Hunter Williams stole three bases. The Locos finished with 11 hits.
