Shockers fall 2-1 to Piqua
Jun. 22—HILLSBORO — The Post 142 Shockers are indeed beginning to play better baseball.
Now, the aim is winning some of these close, low-scoring and late-inning affairs.
After a narrow 1-0 loss at Portsmouth Post 23 last Thursday, followed up by their first victory of the season on Friday, the Shockers —on Sunday in their only other game in the annual Hillsboro Wooden Bat Classic —fell 2-1 to Piqua Post 184.
With Saturday's pair of rainouts, and some subsequent Sunday rescheduling reshuffling, the Shockers played just two tilts inside Hillsboro's Shaffer Park for the entire weekend — and came out of the event at 1-7.
Waverly won its first game of the season on Friday with a 5-0 blanking of the Troy Bombers.
Against Piqua, the Shockers scored their only run in the seventh inning —but trailed 2-0 at the time thanks to Post 184 scoring both of its earned runs in the bottom of the first.
Alex Boles — the first of four Sunday Shocker pitchers — gave up those runs on a pair of hits, a pair of walks and a fielder's choice, as Ventura for Piqua poked a double in the inning.
Boles allowed three hits and five walks with five strikeouts, as the Shockers shut out Post 184 over the final five innings.
Levi Coriell, Jerrod Tackett and Mason Ratcliff worked an inning apiece for Post 142.
In fact, following the first, only Ventura with a third-inning single and Deal with a fifth-inning leadoff single accounted for Piqua's only other hits.
But Post 142 could not find that tying run —and only had three hits compared to a dozen strikeouts.
The Shockers' first baserunner wasn't until a dozen batters in — when Dakota Secrest singled with two outs in the fourth.
Easton Lansing walked to lead off the fifth, but he was erased on a two-out fielder's choice — before Boles singled with two outs in the sixth but he was picked off at first.
Finally, in the seventh, the Shockers scored when Secrest singled and advanced to second on a passed ball —and eventually crossed on a Ratcliff 4-6 fielder's choice.
Weston Roop reached on a two-out walk right before that for runners at second and first, but a groundout to third base on the next at-bat ended the game.
"That was a good ballgame. Although we came out on the wrong end of it, I am proud of the hustle and mentality we played with today," said Post 142 coach Jonathan Teeters.
The Shockers returned home, and returned to non-league action, on Tuesday evening against Athens.
They were also scheduled to host Portsmouth on Wednesday for an SCOL contest at 5:30 p.m.
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