Columbus East entered the bottom of the seventh inning within striking distance of Huntington North in both games of Saturday’s baseball doubleheader, but fell short both times.
The Vikings had a one-run lead heading into the final inning of the first game and three outs in three at bats for East pitcher Julian Greenwell gave the Olympians a shot to tie or take the lead. Unfortunately for East, it also ended the seventh inning with three outs in three at bats to allow Huntington North to win the first game by a 7-6 margin.
“We didn’t throw and catch real well that first inning,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “That cost us some runs, but that’s part of it.”
The Olympians held a 3-2 lead after the first inning and were tied at 5-5 after three innings. East managed to score another run in the bottom of the fourth, but not until after the Vikings scored two runs that eventually gave them the win.
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East scored on two Jonah Wichman RBIs along with RBIs from Dalton Back, Nash Murphy and Alec Burnett. Back went 3 for 4, and Greenwell connected on a triple. Hasson, who pitched the first four innings before Greenwell took over, got on base with a double.
The Olympians continued to hit well in the first inning of the second game to keep the score tied at 3-3 after one inning. But they remained scoreless after that, and the Huntington North scored two more runs in the third and fourth innings to take the second game 5-3.
The Vikings were in a position to score multiple runs in the fourth with the bases loaded on just one out. Burnett, who pitched the first four innings, stayed poised at the mound and executed two straight strikeouts to keep the game in reach.
“That was big-time,” Gratz said. “He hasn’t been able to get a lot of experience on the mound. It was good to see him in a tough situation coming through like that.”
The Olympians kept Huntington North away from home plate the rest of the game, but couldn’t capitalize on the Vikings’ missed opportunity by cashing in on any runs of their own after that. East scored its first-inning runs on an RBI-single by Back and an RBI-double by Cole Gilley. Back scored the third run by reaching home plate on a wild pitch.
Pitching for East in the second game came from Burnett and Gilley. Gilley went 2 for 3, and Josh Major went 2 for 4.
