Solon, OH- On Thursday the University Preppers (2-1) visited the Solon Comets (3-1)
The Preppers shot out of the gate on fire and never looked back. Ben Elliott lead off a 4-run first inning by flying out to the left fielder, Evan Funderburg. Aaron Moss singled to left and stole second. Riley Penn then drew a walk bringing Deacon Nelson up to bat. Deacons singled home Moss, advancing Penn to third. David Faremouth came to bat with runners on the corners and came through with an RBI double, bringing Penn across for their 2nd run. With Deacon on 3rd and Faremouth on 2nd and one out, Ryan Pattison stepped into the box and delivered a 2-run double to put a 4-spot on the board in the first. Joey Zigman grounded out to Adam Niederst at 3rd for the 2nd out. Max Leombruno got an oppurtunity to add on, but he flied out to the shortstop Charlie Bubonics ending the top half of inning number one. On Evan Shapiros first pitch of the night, Caleb Walker hits a ground ball to the shortstop Nelson, who throws him out. The next two batters, Adam Niederst and Zach Rosen become Shapiro´s first two strikeout victims. Onto the top of the 2nd with the Preppers up 4-0.
Matthew McMahon hits a ground ball fielded by Niederst, who makes a strong throw across the diamond to record the first out of the inning. Elliott comes to bat, and pops out to Miles Szach at second. With two down, Moss lines out to Funderburg in left and University goes down 1-2-3. Shapiro struck out the first two batters he faced in the inning, Charlie Bubonics and Alex Mester respectively. To end the inning McMahon catches a flyball off the bat of Harley Barmen ending the 2nd.
In the top of the 3rd Penn flies out to Zhao who makes the catch and records out number one. Nelson and Faremouth both ground out to 3rd for the last 2 outs of the inning for University. Ethan Zhao in his first at-bat singles to right, giving the Comets their first base knock of the game. Funderburg reaches on a fielders choice to short, where Elliott retires the lead runner Zhao, but they couldn´t turn two and Zhao was safe at first. Szach gets his first swings and ropes a single to right. The Comets began to heat up, looking to spark a comeback. Funderburg advances on a passed ball, but Caleb Walker goes down on strikes. Niederst had an opportunity to cut into the lead, but suffers the same fate and is rung-up by Shapiro for his 6th strikeout through 3 innings of work.
Pattison led off the top of the 4th for the Preppers witha grounder to the pitcher Drew Lavine, who tossed to first for the out. Zigman then singles to center. Leombruno steps up to the plate, but strikes out stranding Zigman at 1st. Next up McMahon sends a ball to right and reaches second on an error advancing Zigman all the way to 3rd. Elliott had a chance to do more damage, but he flied out to Zhao ending the top of the 4th. The leadoff hitter Zach Rosen started the bottom of the 4th win a groundout to first. Charlie Bubonics then came to bat and grounded to third, but a bad throw allows Bubonics to reach 2nd on an error. Alex Mester then hits a fly ball to center, but a nicely turned double-play by Pattison in center ends the 4th.
In the top of 5th the Preppers catch fire again. Moss starts the inning off with a base hit to left. The next batter Penn squeaks a single between the shortstop and third baseman, setting up Nelson to bat with two on and nobody out. A 4-pitch walk loads the bases for Faremouth who singles to center brings home Moss. A sac fly from Pattison scores Riley Penn, as Deacon Nelson advanced to 3rd. Zigman drives Nelson home on an RBI single to left with Faremouth stopping at 2nd. Tucker Greer comes into pinch hit for Leombruno, and he comes through with an RBI double scoring Faremouth. McMahon strikes out flipping the lineup over to Elliott who swings and hits an RBI single that brings Zigman home and advances Greer to 3rd. Elliott swipes 2nd and Greer scores on a throw down to 2nd that ends up in center. It's a throwing error on catcher Harley Barmen giving Elliott an opportunity to get to 3rd. Moss later grounds out to the second baseman Szach who throws to first and ends the inning. Zhao singles to right as the Comets look to keep the game going. Zhao is later picked off after he was originally ruled safe, but the call is overturned on an appeal. Funderburg strikes out becoming Shapiros 7th and final K of the night. Caleb Walker grounds out to Shapiro who takes it himself to first and ends the ballgame. University prevails 9-0.
Evan Shapiro went the distance albeit only 5 innings. Nevertheless he was dominant. He struck out 7 Comet batters in 5 shutout innings of work, only allowing 4 hits. Offensively for the Preppers, Pattison lead the team in RBIS with 3. Zigman and Faremouth each recorded 2 hits and an RBI a piece. Moss also had a pair of hits scoring 2 runs as well along with Faremouth who scored a pair of runs himself.
Zhao, Barmen, Funderburg and Szach all went 1 for 2 at the plate, accounting for all 4 of the Comets hits.
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