The Stow varsity baseball team played a double-header at Stow on Saturday against Louisville. The teams would split the two games during the days action on a beautiful day for baseball.
Before the first game was played, time was taken to recognize each Senior member of the Stow varsity baseball team for the 2012 season. Those recognized along with their baseball position and future plans after high school include:
Alex Barry, outfielder and pitcher, The Ohio State University
Chris Choler, catcher, The Ohio State University
Dan Garner, pitcher, first baseman, The Ohio Sate University
Alex Glessner, outfielder, The Ohio State University
Thomas Gulley, shortstop, third baseman, University of South Carolina, Sumter, to play baseball
Adam Porto, outfielder, Bowling Green State University
Kyle Scelza, second baseman, shortstop, Mount Union College to play basketball
Kevin Schirra, pitcher, third and first baseman, Mount Union College to play baseball
Mike Smith, third baseman, club manager, Bowling Green State University
Nick Shellhorn, club manager, University of Akron
Nick Shellhorn through out the ceremonial first pitch on behalf of his Senior team mates in the class of 2012.
The first game featured Junior right hander Ben Geopfert on the mound and then in the lineup was every senior on the ball club. Geopfert gave up one run in the first, but then settled in with two strikeouts to retire the side.
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Stow got on the scoreboard early when Chris Choler singled with one out in the first inning. Kevin Schirra followed with another single. Dan Garner then drove in a run with the third single in a row. Thomas Gulley then followed with an infield grounder that drove in another run giving Stow a 2-0 lead after one inning.
Geopfert cruised through the second and third innings as he scattered two hits and got another strikeout. Two nice plays were made in the third inning by Mike Smith at third base. Smith had injured his knee in preseason football, which kept him on the sidelines for both the football and then baseball seasons. But on this senior day Coach Celik gave him the start and he looked sharp at the hot corner.
In the fourth inning, Louisville broke through with two runs to take a 3-2 lead. The Stow offense had remained quiet after the first inning. The Bulldogs had several opportunities, but could not get a hit to fall after an Adam Port single to lead off the second inning. In the fifth Geopfert was aided with a nice double play to keep the game close. With one on and nobody out, a hard hit ball up the middle was fielded by the shortstop Gulley who stepped on second and fired to first for the second out.
Louisville added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to take a 4-2 lead. As has been the case all season, though, the Bulldogs would not go quietly. In the bottom of the seventh, Alex Glessner was the lead off hitter and drilled a single to right field to get on base. The next two batters made outs, though. Junior Andrew Hurd entered the game as a pinch hitter and came through with a single to get the tying runs on board. Stow then entered Sohpomore Al Damschroder to pinch hit. Damschroder drilled the first pitch right up the middle, but the pitcher was able to leap and catch it in his glove to steal a hit and end the ball game with a 4-2 win for Louisville.
In the second game, Sophomore right hander Alex Haynes made his first varsity start. Haynes would survive a tough first inning and then settle in to keep his team in the game. Stow fell behind early, but would rally in the late innings for the win. Alex Barry came on in the sixth. In the seventh, Louisville got a runner on base, but Barry sealed the victory with a strikeout.
The Bulldogs will play at Normandy on Tuesday. They then will play their sectional playoff game at Firestone High School on Wednesday at 4:30.