Prospect League baseball: Lack of offense bites Lorain County Ironmen again

LORAIN – The Achilles’ heel of Lorain’s season has been its offensive production. It came to the forefront again.

The Ironmen got on the board early, but couldn’t capitalize any other opportunities – including one in the bottom of the ninth – en route to a 3-1 loss to Springfield in Prospect League action July 27 at The Pipe Yard.

‘That’s kind of what (happens) with a young team,’ Lorain County Manager Joe Rhomberg said. ‘We are starting to see a lot more players which are younger now. It (lack of offense) happened earlier (in the season) too … the worse it gets they put a lot more pressure on themselves and then it seems to get worse. So you’ve got to try to get them to relax and stay loose.’

Like on July 25, Lorain County’s (18-34) offense started early.

Leading off the bottom of the first inning, Anthony Bova lined a single to center, but Springfield center fielder Corey Dempster misplayed the hop which allowed the ball to get pass him and put Bova at third base.

Logan Landon grounded out to second, but it scored Bova to give Lorain County a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t last.

In the bottom of the second, Taylor Carlson tied it with a solo home run to left off of Justin Fritts.

The Sliders took the lead in the third with Zach Shira scoring on Will Schneider’s single.

Springfield pitch Chris Powell dodged threats in the second and fourth innings, but managed to get out of it. Using his breaking stuff, Powell managed to keep the Ironmen off-balance enough to throw six innings of one-run ball to pick up the win.

‘We kind of figured out a pattern out, but didn’t quite make the adjustments or at least make it hurt when we did,’ Rhomberg said. ‘He relied a lot on his off-speed. We had to sit back better and go the other way. We started to do, but we didn’t get the hits when we needed to even after the adjustment.’

Lorain County starter Fritts (2-3) also went six innings. He gave up two runs on seven hits, striking out five. The defense played nearly flawless when he was on the mound.

‘I think the start went well,’ Fritts said. ‘I’m just worried about getting ahead of the batters and mixing up my pitches more often. My defense played well behind me. I always use to try to strikeout everyone out. As I’ve gotten older, I would much rather have a one pitch at-bat than a three pitch at-bat.’

But a defensive miscue in the eighth allowed the Sliders to push their lead to 3-1. Carlson scored from third after Riley Spetz flied out to right field. However, the throw forced catcher Tyler Greiner to go up the third base line. By the time Greiner got the ball, Vince Frate – who was backing the play up – wasn’t able to get to home plate in time to stop Carlson from scoring.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Lorain County loaded the bases. But Alex Siddle struck out Bova to preserve the win.

While the second half hasn’t gone the Ironmen’s way, Rhomberg was happy with the way his defense played.

‘They (defense) played the way they should,’ he said. ‘They didn’t make errors, were in the right places and kept their focus the whole game.’

Lorain County travels to Butler July 28. Springfield 3, Lorain County 1

Springfield 011 000 010 – 3 10 1

Lorain County 100 000 000 – 1 7 2

Hitting: (S)Taylor Carlson (3), Will Schneider (2), Zach Shira (3), Corey Dempster, Michael Randle; (LC) Anthony Bova (2), Andrew Gronski, Billy Salem (3), Kyle Michalik.

W: Chris Powell (2-4); L: Justin Fritts (2-3); SV: Alex Siddle

Records: Springfield 13-38, Lorain County 18-34