COLUMBUS GROVE – Lincolnview senior Dane Ebel sat down 11 Bulldog hitters and allowed just a trio of hits on Thursday night as the Lancers moved to 4-0 in Northwest Conference play with an 8-0 victory.
“Dane didn’t have his best stuff today but was still able to come out and give us a good outing while also being excellent at the plate. Credit to he and sophomore catcher Myles Moody” opined Lancer seventh year head coach Eric Fishpaw on the outing by his senior hurler.
Dating back to 2019 the Lancers have now claimed wins in their last 20 league outings and move to 34-2 in the conference since 2018.
Brock Hoffman provided the first hit of the game in the bottom half of the first for the host Bulldogs as he slapped a 2-1 offering into the outfield but found himself stranded to end the frame thanks to Ebel who struck out the side.
Tied 0-0 entering the top of the third inning the Lancers bats went to work against Brenton Renner and produced five runs. Chayse Overholt reached to begin the nine hitters who would come to the plate on an error and was joined by Holden Price who found his way on thanks to a fielders choice and a second Bulldog miscue.
Dane Ebel opened the flood gates for the blue and gold with a 2-RBI single before consecutive singles by Austin Bockrath and Evan Miller helped keep the Lancers moving. Catcher Myles Moody brought in a run with a sacrifice bunt to send the visitors into the field leading 5-0.
Columbus Grove produced a one out double in the bottom of the same inning but again were turned away with a runner in scoring position as Ebel fanned the top two hitters in the Bulldog lineup to keep the hosts scoreless.
Dalton Wuerth singled to begin the fifth for Grove but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play by the Lancer defense that again rose to the occasion through the inning to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
Despite being turned away from their own hot start in the sixth against Renner, the Lancers loaded the bases in their half of the sixth on a pair of singles by Brandon Renner and Chayse Overholt before executing a sacrifice bunt with Holden Price moments before Dane Ebel was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Reliever Shep Halker, a day past locking down his first save of the year against Leipsic took over on the mound for Columbus Grove and surrendered a trio of runs before his strikeout of Evan Miller that closed the door on Renner’s line at eight runs allowed.
Renner (2-1) finished with 5.1 innings of work and 99 pitches on his body of work that saw 10 hits on eight runs (six earned), six strikeouts and a walk be charged to him.
Over their last two at bats the Bulldogs, a team entering play on Thursday hitting .314 and outscoring opponents 81-23 during their current six-game winning streak were held off of the bases with a pair of ground balls, a fly out, and three Ebel strikeouts to end the game with an 8-0 Lancers victory.
“I thought we played solid defensively today. We had a big 6-4-3 double play in the last couple of innings. I’m proud of our guys for putting together a complete game today” finished Fishpaw.
Dane Ebel moves to 2-0 on the season as his second complete game of the year ends with three hits allowed to go with 11 strikeouts, two walks, and a hit by pitch.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today but I had to bear down and pound the zone and just let my defense do the work, they were a huge part in our win tonight” said the Lancer senior Ebel after the game.
Next up for Lincolnview (10-1, 4-0) is a Friday night non-league tilt against New Bremen and a Saturday afternoon trip to Dayton’s Day Air Ballpark for a 3pm contest against Fort Recovery that can be heard on WZOQ Radio at: https://www.christiannetcast.com/listen/player.asp?station=zsportslive2
Columbus Grove (11-3, 3-1) is back in action on Saturday when they play host to Cory-Rawson and back in NWC play on Monday when they visit Spencerville.
“Lincolnview is a very good baseball team. I think we are as well but when you play against a really good team you can’t make any mistakes, we made three big ones. Unfortunately all of our mistakes were in a single inning and it led to a five spot for them in the third. More times than not five runs is going to be more than enough with Dane Ebel on the mound, he’s a special talent. I’m happy with the way my guys battled but we just made too many mistakes and they capitalized like good teams do” remarked Columbus Grove boss Brayden Sautter on his outlook of tonight’s battle.
Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincolnview | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 0 |
| Grove | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
Lincolnview
Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO
Dane Ebel 3 2 2 2 1 0
Caden Hanf 3 0 0 1 0 2
Austin Bockrath 4 1 3 1 0 1
Evan Miller 4 1 1 0 0 2
Jack Dunlap 4 0 2 1 0 0
Myles Moody 2 0 0 1 0 0
Dalton Ellerbrock 1 0 0 0 0 1
Brandon Renner 3 1 1 0 0 1
Aiden Hardesty 1 0 0 0 0 1
Chayse Overholt 3 2 2 0 0 0
Holden Price 1 1 0 0 0 1
Columbus Grove
Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO
Hoffman 2 0 1 0 1 1
Haulker 3 0 0 0 0 2
Birnesser 2 0 0 0 1 1
Barazza 0 0 0 0 0 0
Schroeder 3 0 0 0 0 2
Renner 3 0 0 0 0 1
Hopkins 3 0 0 0 0 3
Wurth 3 0 1 0 0 1
Ricker 3 0 0 0 0 0
Schroeder 1 0 1 0 0 0
Fisher 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 23 0 3 0 2 11