Bellefontaine’s struggles continued Wednesday as they fell to visiting Kenton Ridge 17-1 in five innings.
The Chieftains have lost three in a row, two of those to the Cougars, who are 6-1 on the year. Bellefontaine is now 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the Central Buckeye Conference.
“It starts with the preparation beforehand,” said Chieftains coach Russ Hogue. “I didn’t get the boys ready enough.”
He added that “when you let a really good team hop on you early, it’s hard to come back from that. We are a young team, and we are trying to find our identity. We are going through a roller coaster, we just have to bounce back and stay positive.”
Starting pitcher Spencer Stolly was saddled with the loss. He allowed nine runs on seven hits and one walk in 1 1/3 innings. Brody Boy worked 1 2/3 innings, giving up three runs with four hits and two walks. Finishing up was Beckham Harman in the fourth and fifth. He was charged with five runs on three hits and one walk. None of the hurlers had a strikeout.
Boy, Cayleb Overmann and Lincoln Banta each had a double, with Overmann driving in the sole run.
Kenton Ridge used Nic Stumpf for two innings, Mason Amato for two and Jake Beard for one. They combined for seven strikeouts, with one walk by Stumpf.
Stolly retired the opening hitter on a fly ball to right. Zach Deel beat out an infield single, and Beard got a walk.
After another flyout, Brennan Shaffer turned and drove a pitch over the fence in left field for a 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the first, Sutton Daring reached on an error and Boy lined a single to center. Those came with two outs and a groundout ended the inning.
Branyen Brown opened the second with a single to center. Aiden Yeatts put down a bunt to the third base side.
The throw went to first, with Bellefontaine’s Alex Crabill suffering an injury on the play and having to leave the game. Luke LeVan took over for him.
Brown had gone to third on the play. A pickoff attempt to first sailed high, and Brown scored, with Yeatts racing around to third base.
He scored on a single to left by Stumpf. Stumpf advanced on a groundout and error, then scored on a hit by Jakob Groeschel to left. Brennan Shaffer followed with a double down the left field line, bringing in two more runs to make it 8-0.
Hogue made the pitching change to Boy at that point. Shaffer scored on another fielding miscue. Kenton Ridge loaded the bases but a couple of fly outs got them out of the fix.
Bellefontaine got a walk by Banta and single by Harman to start the second. Harman was retired on a force play, and two strikeouts left the runners stranded.
In the Cougars third, Deel reached on an error, Beard walked and Groeschel singled up the middle to plate Deep. A hit by Shaffer scored Beard. Groeschel would later score on a single by Julian Daniels to make it an even dozen in the scoring department.
With Harman on the mound in the fourth, the first two runners reached on an error and walk. A flyout to left, a force play and a groundout to third kept them off the board.
Banta led off the home half with a double well into center field. Two batters later, Overmann smacked one into left to bring Banta around and break up the shutout. Aven Caudill would get a single but be left aboard.
Kenton Ridge batted around in the top of the fifth inning, and scored five more runs, with a couple of more doubles.
In the bottom half, Boy cracked a double, but the other three batters were retired, bringing the game to an end due to the 10-run rule.
Bellefontaine will be off until next week. They face Jonathan Alder on Monday and Wednesday, with the first one at home.
In other area baseball action Wednesday:
Ben Logan 4, Graham 1
Benjamin Logan bounced back and got a win over Graham in CBC play, after the Falcons had won 6-0 on Monday.
Adam Tinsman hurled a complete game for the win. He allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out eight.
AJ Griffith had two hits for the Raiders, with Tinsman driving in one run to help his own cause. Also with hits were Soli Hughes and Camden Spriggs.
Ben Logan got the first run of the game in the second inning. Graham tied it in the fourth. Ben Logan then answered with three runs in the fifth.
The Raiders (4-2 CBC, 6-4 overall) are back on the field today at home against Kenton Ridge.
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Indian Lake 1, North Union 0
Indian Lake edged visiting North Union to take a CBC matchup.
The only score came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Madden Lillard doubled to open the frame. After a strikeout, Bryce Burton’s grounder was misplayed and Lillard came around to score.
Tyler Tidwell pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing four hits. He did not issue a walk and got six strikeouts. Tidwell turned the ball over to Cooper Hall, who got the victory. Hall held North Union to one hit in his 1 1/3 innings.
Lillard had a single to go with his double. Also getting hits were Colten Corcoran and Jaxon Snipes.
The Lakers (5-1 CBC, 6-2 overall) visit London on Friday.
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Troy Christian 17, Riverside 9
Riverside lost to visiting Troy Christian in Three Rivers Conference play.
The Eagles started and finished strong, with five runs in the first and 10 in the seventh. In between, they had single runs in the second and sixth.
Riverside scored once in the third, four in the fifth and and four more in the seventh.
Syler Clark started the game and was replaced by Landon Purtee after four batters. Purtee completed the first and got one out in the second. He was followed by Camden Shoe for five innings and Gavin Orsborne in the seventh.
The Pirates pitchers allowed nine hits and walked 11 batters. Shoe had four strikeouts.
Hayden McCully had two hits. Gavin Orsborne had two RBIs, with one each for Purtee, Cooper Crouch, Shoe and Hayden Sanford.
Riverside (1-6 TRC, 4-8 overall) is back in action today at Milton-Union.
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