Fabulous Frosh
What appeared to be a rout in the making soon turned into a pitchers' duel.
Despite having a freshman on the mound, Karns City's chances were in good hands with Ty Belles.
He allowed just one run on four hits over 6 1/3 innings to earn his first varsity win in a 4-2 decision over Keystone Thursday at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.
“How about Ty Belles,” exclaimed Gremlins' coach Josh Smith after the win. “He battled for us today. We took one on the chin with an 11-1 loss to Redbank Valley on Tuesday. Today, it wasn't our best effort, but the seniors stepped up for us and we had a positive, team-first attitude.”
Karns City scored all of its runs in the bottom of the first inning. Meanwhile, Belles had breezed through the first two frames, retiring the first six Panthers he faced with four strikeouts. He ran into some trouble in the third.
Jayden Blazosky walked to begin the inning, stole second base and scored on Nick Weaver's base hit.
With one out, Belles issued consecutive free passes to Dawson Steele and Tye Elder that loaded the bases. Following a visit to the mound, the freshman struck out Troy Johnson and caught Conner Exley looking at a third strike as the bases were left jammed with Panthers.
“I just stayed with what I know I needed to do,” said Belles. “Pound the zone with my fastball and throw in a change-up when needed.”
That philosophy carried him into the seventh inning. The Panthers (0-2) managed one base hit off of him in each frame from the fourth through the sixth, but none of the baserunners got past second base.
After retiring Weaver for the first out of the seventh, Belles was pulled because he had reached 100 pitches. Tyler Yough came on in relief and was victimized by a fielding error and a pop fly that was lost in the lights that resulted in Keystone's second run. Johnson then struck out to cap the game.
Keystone starter Andrew Lauer's outing was much shorter than his counterpart. The junior surrendered four runs in the first inning. Belles doubled in one run, but the other three tallies each came home on a wild pitch.
Lauer did not return to the mound for the second. He struck out two and walked four.
“I think nerves got to him,” said Keystone coach J.P. Samay. “He's a high school kid and it happens.”
Johnson took the rubber and settled things down, allowing no runs on three hits over the next five innings.
“He's been a starter for us and we're expecting big things from him this year,” said Samay. “He's got a nice fastball and a really good back-door curveball that keeps hitters off-balance.”
KC first baseman Josh Wimer and center fielder Josh Whitmire both had two singles.
“I think we were being too aggressive at the plate instead of just focusing on making contact,” said Belles.
“We have a lot of guys back from last year, a lot of guys with varsity at-bats,” Smith said. “We have the potential to be really good. We'll keep working at it and figure it out. Even the pros go into slumps.”
Keystone 001 000 1 — 2 5 0
Karns City 400 000 x — 4 5 1
W: Ty Belles 6.1 IP (8K, 4BB). L: Andrew Lauer 1 IP (2K, 4BB). S: Tyler Yough .2 IP (2K, 0BB).
Keystone (0-2): Tye Elder 1B RBI, Conner Exley 1B, Logan Sell 1B, Nick Weaver 1B RBI, Kennan Heeter 1B
Karns City (2-2): Josh Wimer 2-1B, Ty Belles 2B R RBI, Josh Whitmire 2-1B
Monday: Clarion-Limestone at Karns City
