Creek slips past Ferry
MINGO JUNCTION — Indian Creek’s Gabe McGrew and Martins Ferry’s Austin Bassa locked horns in one whale of a pitching duel at the John Muth Recreational Complex Monday.
Unfortunately, neither right-hander was still on the bump when the Buckeye 8 marathon finally was decided.
The Redskins manufactured a couple of runs in the home half of the 11th to walk off with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory.
“That was a great game,” Indian Creek coach Mike Cottis said following the two and a half hour contest. “Our defense kept us in that one. Gabe just threw a great game for us and Brayden (Starkey) came in and pitched great in relief.
“We made the plays defensively. We couldn’t touch their pitchers. At one point, I asked Anthony (Reasbeck) ‘where are you getting these guys throwing all that gas.’ We stuck with it. We didn’t have very good at-bats today but we stuck with it and ended up pulling it out.”
Ferry, which squandered several scoring opportunities early, got on the board in the top of the fourth extra frame. Drake Dobson led off with a triple to deep left center. After Jake Probst grounded out, Jake Johnson lifted a fly to shallow right. Dobson tagged and somehow managed to avoid the tag of Creek catcher Jared Harvey.
Harvey got Creek’s game-winning rally going when he was hit on the hand by a Kyle Anderson (he took over for Bassa in the ninth) pitch. P.J. Mazik then laid down a sacrifice bunt. The Purple Riders made two fielding miscues on the play, allowing Creek, now 10-8, to tie the score. Mazik made it all the way to third. Butch Brown’s single brought home Mazik.
McGrew worked seven and a third innings, scattering five hits and striking out six. Starkey worked three and two-thirds to earn the win. Ferry had its leadoff hitter reach base in the third, fourth and fifth but failed to score. Probst started the fourth with a triple. After a ground out, McGrew walked Cade Lloyd.
When Lloyd attempted to steal second, he was gunned down by Harvey. The Creek catcher also threw out a Ferry base runner to end a potential threat in the eighth.
“Today’s win was just a testament to our defense,” Cottis stated. “We came out and made some big plays. On a couple of ground balls in the infield, we made smart plays in freezing their guys. I’m real happy with our defensive performance.
“Harvey stepped up a couple of times. Hopefully, his hand will be OK. That’s a big blow if he is injured.”
Bassa was sensational in his eight innings of work for Ferry (11-9). He recorded 13 strikeouts and allowed just one walk. He scattered three hits (Creek’s first safety came in the sixth, a double off the bat of Harvey). Anderson fanned three in his three innings of work.
“That’s what he does,” Reasbeck stressed when discussing Bassa’s performance. “Every time he pitches, we should win. We just seem to have a tough time giving him any run support. Our pitchers kept us in the game. If not for them, the game would have been over much earlier.
“We deserved the outcome. For the first seven innings, we weren’t very good. We weren’t ready to go mentally and that’s my fault. We’ll solve that and we’ll bounce back.”
Cory Miklas had two hits to pace Ferry, which hosts the Redskins today. Dom Wallace added a double.
Indian Creek 2, Martins Ferry 1
Martins Ferry 000 000 000 01 — 1 7 4
Indian Creek 000 000 000 02 — 2 5 0
MARTINS FERRY (11-9): Bassa (13K, 1W) Anderson (9, LP, 3K, 1HBP) and Dobson. Dobson T; Probst T; Wallace D; Miklas 2S; Lloyd S; Bassa S; Johnson RBI.
INDIAN CREEK (10-8): McGrew (6K, 3W) Starkey (8, WP, 1K, 1W, 1HBP) and Harvey. Harvey D; Brown S; Nest S; Gualtiere S; McGrew S.
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