Refusing to let last week's All-Star break phase them, the Southern Ohio Copperheads carried their recent momentum into the second half of Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League play.
Fueled by a combination of exceptional starting pitching and sporadic outbursts at the plate, the Copperheads won three of their four games last week.
On Monday night, the Copperheads collectively clicked in an 11-4 drubbing of the Delaware Cows. Despite walking seven Delaware batters, Copperheads starting pitcher John Karr did not allow a run in his five innings of work.
I found my off-speed pitch tonight
Karr said. I've been working a lot on my curveball and that's the key to my whole game because it makes every one of my other pitches much more effective.
Arden McWilliams paced the offense with two hits, including a leadoff home run in the third inning. McWilliams also drove in three runs to break the team's single-season RBI record. His 30 RBIs continue to lead the Great Lakes league by a wide margin.
I was trying not to think about (the record) McWilliams said. Since I've been thinking about it
I struggled a little bit
but it felt good to get it.
Last Friday night, the Copperheads opened the second half of the season against the Stark County Terriers.
Entering the ninth inning with a 9-6 deficit, the Copperheads rallied for three runs to force extra innings. Geoff Campbell's single in the tenth, coupled with an error by Terriers leftfielder Jason Patton, scored two runs for the 11-9 comeback victory.
The Copperheads were not as sharp at the plate during Sunday's doubleheader with the Lake Erie Monarchs, but the team still managed to earn a split.
Copperheads starter Tony Bertucci improved to 3-0 on the season, tossing five shutout innings in the 6-2 victory. The towering right-hander from Cornell has allowed two runs or less in each of his last five starts.
The masterful starting pitching did not carry over to game two, however. In his first start for the Copperheads, Kyle Cowden allowed six runs in 4 and 1/3 innings. The Copperheads offense could only muster four hits, and the team lost, 7-2.
With two weeks left in the regular season, the Copperheads reside in the top half of the league standings. The team must remain in this position to make the post-season playoffs. Coach Mike Deegan believes that consistency will be the key to earning a playoff berth.
We think that if we can maintain what we've done thus far
we'll put ourselves in a good position to make the playoffs and hopefully advance well into the playoffs
Deegan said.
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Andrew Bohardt
