LIMA – It was a race between the impending thunderstorms and the Ohio School Athletic Association 10-run rule.
The 10-run rule prevailed over the rain (barely) as visiting Sidney Lehman over powered Temple Christian by a score of 14-1 Monday evening at Temple Christian in Northwest Central Conference action.
The game was a contrast between programs that are at different stages of development.
The Cavaliers, under the tutelage of veteran coach Dave King, are basically sound in all phases of the game.
The Pioneers, on the other hand, present quite a dilemma for head coach Brad Callahan.
With only 29 boys in grades 10-12, Temple Christian has to struggle just to field a team.
“We only have one player who plays summer baseball,” Callahan said. “The rest just play during the high school season and that makes it tough.”
Sidney scored a run in the top of the first and Temple tied the score when they plated a run in the bottom of the second.
That was as good as it was going to get for the Pioneers, and starting pitcher Noah Howell, who were playing only their second game of the season.
The Cavaliers (7-1, 4-0 NWCC) sent 16 batters to the plate in the top of the third and scored 11 runs in the inning. Sidney totaled six hits in the frame, while Temple committed four errors in the field to go along with three walks and three wild pitches.
Lehman starting pitcher Drew Barhorst coasted through four solid innings and allowed only three hits that he more than offset with six strike-outs. Barhorst flashed excellent control as he threw 57 pitches of which 41 were for strikes.
With the skies looking ominous, Lehman would go on to score two final runs in the top of the fifth for their 14-1 lead.
The Pioneers went down one-two-three in the bottom of the fifth and the race was on to get the tarp on the field before the rain came.
“We are quite young so our senior leadership is a key,” King said. “We started a freshman on the mound but our pitchers throw strikes; we finally got it going and had some nice hits.”
Parker Riley, Bryce Kennedy, and Jared Rourke all had two hits for Sidney while Kennedy had three runs batted in and Tyler Lachey and Jared Magoteaux both had two rbi’s for the Cavaliers.
“We’ll just keep plugging along,” Callahan said. “We are obviously limited but we try to have fun, get outside and enjoy it.”
Temple hits came off the bats of Ty Callahan, Noah Howell, and Seth Hohlbein.
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