Bath’s Joel Rasor dives to field the ball during Tuesday’s game in Celina. See more high school sports photos at LimaScores.com.
Don Speck | The Lima News
CELINA — As Bath enters the homestretch of the regular season with a chance for a Western Buckeye League title, Bath head coach Joe Gomez understands the Wildcats will need to rely on its pitching and timely hitting if they are going to snare a championship crown.
Bath got exactly that against Celina as Wildcat hurler Skyler Lhamon fired a complete game, three-hitter while fanning five and walking one in a 5-2 victory.
Bath remains the lone WBL team undefeated at 5-0 and the Wildcats improve to 8-4 for the year. Celina dips to 2-5 in league play and 7-10 for the year. Defiance and Wapakoneta both have one loss in the league.
With Defiance looming on Friday, Bath head coach Joe Gomez opted to go with Lhamon instead of ace Blaine Albright who is saving for Friday and Lhamon came through with a pitching gem.
“Skyler pitched a great game,” Gomez said. “We just counted it out and he went three or four innings with less than 12 pitches so he was around the zone the entire time. He kept telling me he felt great as the game kept going along. As a matter of fact, in the sixth inning he was throwing 87 mph. He was feeling pretty good and that is good for a cold day.
“He did make a couple of mistake pitches to a couple of their hitters but they got some guys that can the hit the ball but we were pleased with his outing. He was working ahead of the hitters and his was getting all his pitches over for strikes. He was feeling confident to throw any pitch at any time.”
In addition to pitching Gomez also understands the offense is going to have to deliver and against Celina, the Wildcats produced some clutch hitting and took advantage of a couple of Bulldog fielding miscues to score.
Bath’s first run in the fourth came when Preston Young delivered a two-out single to bring home. Llahom who had reached first and moved to second on a single from Eli Jesko.
The Wildcats broke out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth when they tallied four runs with big hits as well as taking advantage of some Bulldog fielding blunders. The Wildcats got doubles from Quintin Collins and Jesko in the frame and Celina had two big fielding mistakes.
“We had a little indecision in the one big inning they had,” said John Dorner, who is fielding a team with no seniors on the roster. “The error by our third baseman was his first all year so I got no problems. We had a little indecision on ground ball where do we turn two or go four and then we had a little miscommunication in the outfield so still no playing 1oo percent sharp baseball. We are not going to quit. We are going to continue to keep working at it. I am seeing some positive things.”
Bath’s Ricky Deppe finished the game 2 for 3 with a run and Jesko went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Collins went 1 for 1 with a run scored and two walks.
“We had a couple of two big out hits,” Gomez said. “Preston Young had a two-out hit. Quintin Collins had a nice hit to get us started in an inning and then we had several guys step up. Eli Jesko had some nice hits and one with two outs. Those are things we have struggled with and it was good to see us come through today.”
For Celina, the Bulldogs scored an unearned run in the fourth and seventh innings. Ethan Bryant had a two-bagger in the seventh to bring home Braden Steinbrunner who had reached base on an error.
As Bath eyes a possible WBL title, Celina is looking to make a run in the playoffs.
“Right now it is all about the tournament so we have a couple more weeks to do that,” Dorner said. “Hopefully we can put a little run together as we approach tournament. We have some young talent coming up. We need to stick with it and stay positive. The key is going to be the summer and the offseason but we are definitely not turning the page in on this season. I think there is enough there that with a little hard work we can hopefully make a run.”
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
