Lima Senior rolls past Perry

PERRY TOWNSHIP - One bad inning can be hard for an opponent to bounce back from, but two big innings can make a comeback next to impossible.

The Lima Senior baseball team erupted for two seven-run innings against Perry and the result was a 16-1 Spartan victory Saturday in nonleague action.

The Spartans wasted no time jumping on the Commodores as they rode four hits and three walks in the first inning to a 7-0 lead.

Perry bounced back with a single run in the bottom of the first when Tyler Cornwell drove in Shane Cockerell with a single.

Lima scored single runs in the second and fourth innings before exploding for seven more runs in the top of the seventh.

Freshman southpaw Brey Buetner started the game for Perry and pitched well after the tough first inning.

"(Buetner) was having trouble finding the plate and then we made some errors," Perry coach Jon Shively said. "He settled down and threw strikes but we didn't give him much support. Those two bad innings really killed us"

Buetner pitched five innings for the Commodores before being taken out after throwing 104 pitches in the game.

Sophomore right-hander Zach Rumbaugh pitched well for the Spartans, going 5 1/3 innings while allowing two hits and striking out five.

"Zach has been throwing well; he mixes his pitches well and is always around the plate," Lima coach Jimmy Morris said. "He doesn't walk many and we only had one error today and I can live with that."

Brandon Cady came on in relief of Rumbaugh and kept the Perry bats at bay the final 1 2/3 innings.

Tyler Sweigart, Ryan Stalder and Kendall Jackson led the Spartans offense, each tallied two hits.

Hyde had a single and double in three at bats to lead the Commodore offense.

The Spartans improved to 5-9, an improvement for a team that won one game a year ago.

"We are getting better," Morris said. "The kids are working hard in practice and it showed today."

Shively, while disappointed in the showing by the Commodores, still has his eye a bigger prize this season.

"We are still playing for the league (Northwest Central Conference) title," Shively said. "We have a one-game lead with games against Upper Scioto Valley on Tuesday and Ridgemont on Thursday."