Lima Central Catholic’s Carson Parker steals second base against Lima Senior’s Clay Jordan during Wednesday’s game at Players Field.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA – It was a pitcher’s duel for more than five innings.
Lima Central Catholic junior right-hander Carson Parker was in control on the pitching mound in Wednesday’s cross-town baseball game with visiting Lima Senior.
For Lima Senior, junior left-handed pitcher Brandon Griffith was keeping LCC in check for the most part.
The game was knotted, 1-1, heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Then, LCC scored four runs in the sixth to pull out to a seemingly safe 5-1 lead.
However, Lima Senior made it a contest in the top of the seventh.
The Spartans scored two runs, but came up short, in a 5-3 loss to LCC at Players Field.
With the win, LCC improves to 4-5 on the season. Lima Senior falls to 2-9.
Parker worked 6 1/3 innings for the T-Birds Wednesday. Parker was tabbed for the three runs on four base hits, while striking out 11, walking three and hitting two batters. He threw 106 pitches on the day. Parker struck out the side in order in the second and fifth innings.
“He (Parker) definitely wore down in the sixth and seventh innings,” LCC head coach John Schnieders said. “A couple mistakes behind him didn’t help, either. But you have to give Lima Senior a lot of credit. They did a good job. We left some chances on the board, early. We made some mistakes on the bases, early.”
Jacob Lauck moved over from his first base position to the pitching mound in the seventh and closed out the game for the T-Birds.
Griffith pitched all six innings for the Spartans. He struck out four and walked three on the day. Griffith threw 103 pitches.
LCC scored the first run of the game, in the third. Gabe Cira (1 for 3), the shortstop, sacrificed home Zach Campbell (1 for 2 RBI) with a flyball to center field.
Lima Senior got on the scoreboard in the sixth. Logan Davenport (1 for 3), the first baseman, had an RBI single that plated Caiden Crawford, who led off the sixth with a walk.
LCC responded in the home half of the sixth.
The T-Birds scored four runs on four hits, to pull out to a 5-1 advantage.
But in the top of the seventh, Lima Senior scored two runs on no hits. Two hit batters, a walk and an error led to the two runs for the Spartans.
“We’ve been trying to help these kids understand, that you have to play smart for the entire seven innings, because some weird stuff can happen,” Schnieders said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of room for error, with it being 1-0; and it played out that way. They (Lima Senior) got their one (run), and it was 1-1.
“But we did a decent job of putting together a rally and putting some runs on them. We got some better swings on the baseball there in the bottom of the sixth and got some opportunities to score. But again, no lead is safe when a scrappy team like Lima Senior is competing against you. I just felt like their kids were a lot more intense and more into the game than we were. … We were pretty flat. And we’re going to address that.”
For the game, LCC had seven hits. Lima Senior recorded four hits on the day.
The T-Birds left four runners on base, while the Spartans stranded five baserunners.
“It’s (about) timely hits,” Lima Senior head coach Casey Reed said. “We just couldn’t get them when we needed them, early in the game. We’ve been really harping on our guys the past couple games, that we’ve got to compete. We’ve been playing some of those Toledo schools, and we’ve been taking a little bit of a beating. … Our guys haven’t competed.
“But I thought they came out and competed, today. They finished the game. They had a little fight there at the end. Once again, we just didn’t get the timely hits when we needed it.”
Parker and Lauck each had two hits Wednesday for LCC. Peyton Rader led Lima Senior with a single and a double.
Schnieders was pleased at the way his pitching came through in Wednesday’s win over the Spartans.
“You have to give credit to Carson (Parker). He threw a nice game. He just ran out of gas there in the seventh. But a senior, Jacob Lauck, comes in and shuts the door, by coming in and throwing strikes. That’s what you need in that situation,” Schnieders said.
