Bath’s Tyson McGee slides safely into second base against Delphos Jefferson’s Braylon Scalf during Saturday’s game at Bath.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
BATH TOWNSHIP — Bath head baseball coach Joe Gomez always stresses to his team the importance of getting someone on base, early on.
His team responded.
In the bottom of the seventh of Saturday’s nonconference game against Delphos Jefferson, with the game knotted 4-4, Bath rallied and pulled out a 5-4 victory.
Heading into the top of the seventh, Bath was leading 4-0.
However, in the seventh, Delphos Jefferson scored four runs on two hits.
Bath responded in the bottom of the seventh.
Blaine Albright reached first base with a walk. The next batter, Quintin Collins (2 for 4, 2 RBI), lined a single to right field. Then, Joel Rasor (2 for 4) followed with a game-winning single.
“We always preach about trying to get that first guy on,” Gomez said. “Then, we got our first guy on base. Blaine (Albright) followed that up with a walk. And we ended up getting him where we needed to get him for Joel (Rasor). Joel put it in play and came through for us.”
With the win, Bath improves to 4-2 overall. Delphos Jefferson slips to 1-5.
In the top of the seventh, Karder Agner came through for Delphos Jefferson with a two-out double that plated three runs. Earlier in the seventh, teammate Braylon Scalf had an RBI single.
Through six innings, Delphos Jefferson mustered just one base hit off Bath starting pitcher Preston Young.
Early into the seventh, Gomez pulled Young, and replaced him with Blaine Albright, who started Saturday’s game at first base.
For his six-plus innings of work, Young was tabbed for two runs on one hit. The right-handed Young struck out five, walked five and hit three batters. Young threw 98 pitches on the day.
“Preston (Young) threw a great six innings,” Gomez said. “The pitch count ran up there in the seventh. He lost a little control. As a matter of fact, he had that first batter (in the seventh) like 1-2 (count), and then we ended up hitting him. So, that did change the complexity of how the game went. But I’m very happy with his six innings of work. … He did great.”
Albright closed out the game in the seventh for Bath. The tall left-hander gave up two runs on two hits, while striking out two and walking one.
Albright is Bath’s No. 1 starting pitcher. However, Gomez did not hesitate to bring him in to close out the game.
“So, Blaine threw (this past) Tuesday. We like to get him in the bullpen sometimes between Tuesday and (next) Tuesday for some work,” Gomez said. “We got him some live reps today.
“I give those (Delphos Jefferson) kids credit. They got the bat around and made it a game. I give them credit for that.”
Along with Collins and Rasor, Ricky Deppe had two hits on the day for Bath.
Vincent Murray got the starting nod on the mound for Delphos Jefferson on Saturday.
Murray worked five-plus innings, before being replaced by Logan Murray.
Vincent Murray gave up three runs on three hits, while striking out two, walking five and hitting a batter. He threw 67 pitches.
For the game, Bath had eight base hits. Delphos Jefferson had just three hits.
“It seems to be our story all year. … We do put the bat on the ball, but we hit it right to people,” Delphos Jefferson head coach Rick Suever said. “But Karder (Agner ) came through again, today. He had a good hit with bases loaded and put us back in the game. We just have to solidify the routine plays in the outfield.”
So far this season, Gomez is feeling confident about his pitching staff. However, Gomez feels like there is some room for improvement at the plate.
“I think (pitching) rotation-wise, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what direction we are going,” Gomez said. “I think it’s just the hitting. … We have to get our hitting going. I think that’s the one thing we need to continue to work on and improve.”
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
