LORAIN – What appeared to be a pitcher’s duel turned into a one-sided affair.
Butler’s Adam Bleday and Lorain’s County’s J.T. Brubaker – both of whom came into the game ranked in the top six in the league in E.R.A. – locked up. Bleday shut down the Ironmen’s offense, while Butler’s offense got to Brubaker en route to an 8-1 Prospect League win at The Pipe Yard Aug. 1.
‘It looked like it – J.T. was throwing well and their guy throwing well, you figured it was going to come down to a big hit or one mistake,’ Lorain County Manager Joe Rhomberg said. ‘We got into some bad, old habits. We gave them too many two-out runs.
‘We have to figure out ways to get out of those innings … we didn’t limit the damage.’
Lorain County got on the board first against Bleday, who came into the game with a sparkling 1.71 E.R.A.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Cody Semler doubled to deep left to score Taylor Emody (Edison) from first.
After cruising through the first three innings, Brubaker ran into trouble in the fourth.
Ryan Hanahan and Cody Herald had back-to-back singles to start the inning. Ryan Uhl hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Hanahan to tie the game at one. Jeffrey Revesz gave Butler the lead with a two-out single to left.
Looking to answer Butler in the bottom of the fourth, the Ironmen put runners on first and third with one out. However, Butler turned a 5-4-3 double play ended the threat.
While Lorain County missed on its opportunity, Butler didn’t.
With two outs in the fifth, a walk and Hanahan’s second single of the game put runners on the corners. Collin Massanelli scored on a wild pitch, while Hanahan scored on Herald’s RBI single to right to give the BlueSox a 4-1 lead.
Hanhan and Herald gave Brubaker fits the entire game, combining for five base hits and a pair of RBIs.
The frustration of missing out on scoring chances finally boiled over. After stranding a runner in scoring position in the fifth, Lorain County had runners on second and third with one out.
Trying to steal home with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Semler was thrown out to end the inning. He immediately jumped up stating he wasn’t tag. He was thrown out of the game for arguing with the umpire.
‘That’s a tough call and it’s always tough stealing home,’ Rhomberg said. ‘It looked like he had it … it was a close play and we didn’t get the call there. At least it was an aggressive mistake.’
The two-out bugaboo for Brubaker came again in the seventh. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Brubaker gave up triple and a single to push the lead to 5-1.
Brubaker, who came into the game went seven innings and gave up five runs on eight hits. He struck out six, but fell to 4-3.
Performing rock-solid all season, Brubaker is thrilled how it progressed for him.
‘I pitched great all year, it was a building process, Brubaker said. ‘I wanted to come in and keep my pitch count low … I kept the runs down. I’m happy with how I pitched this summer and hopefully I can carry into it next spring.’
Lorain County will play its final home game of the season Aug. 2 at the Pipe Yard against Butler. Box Score
Butler 8, Lorain County 1
Butler 000 220 130 – 8 10 1
Lorain County 100 000 000 – 1 54 2
Hitting: (B) Collin Massanelli (2), Ryan Hanahan (3), Cody Herald (2) Jeffrey Revesz, Stuart Levy, Mick Fennell; (LC) Cody Semler (2B), Nate Langhals (2), Tyler Bires,
W: Adam Bleday (5-3) L: J. T. Brubaker (4-3)
Records: Butler 37-19 , Lorain County 19-37
