ADRIAN, MI – Ottawa’s Fighting 63rd dropped a pair of hard fought contests on Saturday afternoon in Michigan as they fell to host Adrian Post 275 7-6 and rival Napoleon 13-2.
Adrian jumped on Ottawa starter Shep Halker (Columbus Grove) in the first as they turned a trio of hits and 63rd miscues into a four run inning. Post 275 nearly added a fifth run in the frame on a wild pitch but was turned away at home plate when Halker teamed up with catcher Brendan Barlage (Miller City) to tag out runner Tristan Hayes.
Ottawa flipped the script on the hosts in the top of the fifth thanks to their own four running inning with four singles from Halker, Case Stegaman (Van Wert), Barlage, and Hunter Scott (Patrick Henry). Jayden Stechschulte (Ottawa Glandorf)’s bases loaded hit by pitch and an RBI ground out by Brayden Niese (Miller City) provided the final markers to tie the contest.
The visiting 63rd snagged their first lead in the sixth on an RBI single from Barlage that brought Halker across the plate and added an extra marker in the seventh to go ahead 6-4 when a single from Brayden Niese scored Stechschulte after his double to open the frame.
Unfortunately for the boys from Ottawa the bats woke up for the hosts as the 63rd surrendered a lead-off single to Miles Frank, and a one out double to Drew Spinks. Clinton (MI) product Nik Shadley’s triple cleared the bases ahead of him to even the contest at 6-6 with one out before Adrian HS and College pitcher Tristan Hayes’ sacrifice fly scored Shadley for the game winning run.
Shep Halker started for Ottawa and lasted six innings while surrendering four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and four walks in addition to the two hit batsmen. Case Stegaman surrendered the final three runs in the game and was tagged with the loss for the 63rd (10-11).
Tristan Hayes snagged the win for Adrian (9-10) with two innings of work and a pair of runs along with a strikeout and a quartet of hits allowed.
Already this season the River Bandits and 63rd had traded a pair of June road victories. Similarly to their first game of the day, Ottawa found themselves playing from behind early in their rubber match with Napoleon in their nightcap.
Four hits and a hit by pitch by Ottawa starter Austin Koch (Ottawa Glandorf) helped the River Bandits jump to a 4-0 lead on a 2-RBI single from Jacob Shadle (Napoleon) and an RBI single by catcher Luke Hardy (Napoleon).
Ottawa gained a pair of runs back in the second against Napoleon starter Jase Kepler (Bryan) on a hit by Patrick Henry’s Nash Meyer and a combo of fielder’s choice/error to the Ottawa Glandorf duo of Mitchell Schroeder and Jayden Stechschulte but were unable to move a runner past second base for the rest of the afternoon.
2-RBI hits from Mason McQuillin (Tinora), and Taysen Deckrosh (Bryan) helped the River Bandits to increase their lead in the third against Koch and reliever Ian Schwab (Patrick Henry) to 10-2.
The games final of 14-2 came to be thanks to the Bandits bats in the fourth continuing to be white hot for the second time this season against the 63rd. Despite hitting into a 4-6-3 double play against Ottawa reliever Dalton Chiles, the designated hosts turned a double from McQuillin and a single by Lucas Gerken (Napoleon) for four markers.
Gerken nailed down three outs to secure the victory for Napoleon (31-5) but did surrender a left field double to Stegaman with one out in the fifth.
Jase Kepler tossed four strong innings of three hit, three strikeout ball for the win while Koch was touched for 10 runs on nine hits in his 2.1 innings on the mound for the loss.
Ottawa (10-12) returns to action at 1pm on Sunday in Adrian against Hudson while Napoleon will open the morning at 11am against the hosts Post 275 of Adrian. Both games will be broadcast live on https://player.cloudradionetwork.com/wzoq/
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