MT. ORAB — Bryce Sipple drove in the go-ahead runs in the sixth inning Friday as Blanchester defeated Western Brown 4-2 under the lights at WBHS in non-league baseball.
The Wildcats go to 15-9 and have won two straight to end the regular season. The Broncos are now 8-16.
“Great two wins to end the regular season rolling into the tournament,” BHS coach Aaron Lawson said. “We are slowly learning to do things as a team, not individually.”
Blanchester had just two hits through five innings and but trailed by only two runs.
“Our infield play has looked much better as of late,” said Lawson. “A handful of plays were made to keep them off the board preventing the big inning. There is no better feeling as a pitcher when you execute your pitch and you know your defense will make the play.”
Then the Wildcats erupted for three runs in the sixth to take the lead.
With one out, Trenton Czaika and Brody Rice registered back to back doubles, 2-1.
With two outs, James Wymer reached on an error. Bryce Sipple made the Broncos pay for the defensive lapse as he singled to center with Rice and Wymer scoring to give BHS the lead.
After five solid innings on the mound, Rice exited and Zach West came on.
“Brody continues to get better each start,” the BHS coach said. “He stayed out of the center of the plate and used his secondary pitches down in the zone which really made him effective.”
The big right-hander closed out the Broncos, retiring all six batter he faced for the save.
“I wasn’t sure what we were going to get with Zach because he hasn’t pitched much lately with the weather,” Lawson said. “I was proud of his mindset. He had great rhythm and challenged the hitters forcing them to beat us. No free passes.”
SUMMARY
May 14, 2021
@Western Brown High School
Blanchester 4, Western Brown 2
B^0^0^0^0^0^3^1^^4.5.1
WB^0^0^1^0^1^0^0^^2.7.3
(4) BLANCHESTER (ab-r-h-rbi) Burch 3-0-1-0 West 3-0-0-0 Czaika 4-2-1-0 Rice 4-1-2-1 Hamm 3-0-0-0 Estep 1-0-0-0 Wymer 2-1-0-0 Sipple 3-0-1-2 Frump 2-0-0-0 C. Ficke 1-0-0-0 J. Ficke 2-0-0-0 TOTALS 28-4-5-3
2B: Czaika, Rice
HBP: West
PITCHING^ip^h^r^er^bb^s0
Rice (W)^5^7^2^2^3^5
West (S)^2^0^0^0^0^1
