Pirate baseball nudged out of post-season play

POMEROY––After playing superlative baseball and beating Sunnyside Christian 7-2, the Pirates looked like a different team in the nightcap, dropping the must-win ballgame 18-1 May 3, finishing fourth in league and out of further post-season play.

"It was a frustrating loss for us," said Head Coach Kyler Lovgren of the nightcap loss. "We weren't able to make the plays like we did in the first game and we got down on ourselves, which caused quite a few mental errors."

The Pirates finished the season with an 8-9 record.

"At the end of the day, I'm proud of our team," Lovgren added. "We saw extreme ups and downs this year with our play, but also could see continued progress in each player throughout the year. We had some young guys who were pretty much thrown to the wolves in varsity baseball. They held up all season in that environment and I can't wait to see how they will play as time goes on."

Lovgren pointed to Richie Vecchio's "great senior year," the slugger batting over .500, close to .600 for most of the season.

The Pirate defense backed up pitcher Trevin Kimble in the first game, nipping Sunnyside Christian's scoring in the bud in spite of the Crusaders counting 10 hits. "Trevin was on ever time we needed him from the mound," Lovgren said. "Peyton Cannon had a couple of great catches in the outfield to prevent runs."

After counting one run in the first inning, the Bucs chalked up three runs in both the third and fifth innings, and then slammed the door in the top of the seventh. Trevin Kimble, Richie Vecchio and Ollie Severs made Pomeroy's three singles.

"We had some guys make some critical plays to get us out of the innings," Lovgren said. "Jayden Slusser stepped in and played second base, and Gunner Magill played short stop since Colby Ledgerwood was unavailable. Both guys had limited practice reps in these positions and were able to play like veterans.

"It was just an all-around great baseball game where our guys played to their full potential to keep our season alive for yet another do-or-die game," he said. "I couldn't have been more proud of the way our players played."

Game 1

Pomeroy 7, Sunnyside Christian 2 (5/3)

R H E

SSC 001 010 0-2 0 4

Pom 103 030 x-7 3 2

Battery: SSC-Jansen, Schilperoort (4), Smeenki and Bosma. Pomeroy: Kimble and Severs.

Hits: SSC-Bosma 2, (2b), Smeenki 3, Roedale, DeBoer 2, Andringa, Jansen (2b). Pomeroy-Kimble, Vecchio, Severs.

Game 2

Sunnyside Christian 18, Pomeroy 1 (5/3)

R H E

SSC 343 08-18 10 2

Pom 000 01-1 3 2

Battery: SSC-Smeenki and Bosma. Pomeroy-Roberts, Magill (3), Vecchio (5) and Severs, Kimble (3).

Hits: SSC-Bosma 3 (3b), Smeenki 2, Roedale 2, Schilperoort 2, Riel. Pomeroy-Roberts, Vecchio, Cannon.