BlueSox drop opener to Champion City, 9-5
For five innings, Butler High grad and Butler BlueSox pitcher Mark Gross was nearly unhittable.
The right-hander had struck out five, given up just two hits and hadn't walked a batter.
Then the sixth inning came and the third time around the Champion City order.
Things unraveled quickly for Gross and the BlueSox. Errors and a ringing double off the wall 425-feet away in center by the Kings' Louis Miceli sent Champion City on its way to a 9-5 win in the season opener for the BlueSox Tuesday night at Kelly Automotive Park.
“I thought Mark threw great,” Herald said. “He was throwing strikes and that's what you have to do, especially in a wood bat league.”
Gross went 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs — only one earned.
Jake Stout relieved Gross and had his own tough time in the seventh as Champion City tacked on five more runs — only one earned.
Butler committed three costly errors in the game.
“We made some mental mistakes,” Herald said.
Gross and Champion City starter Jake Vance were locked in a pitching duel for five-plus innings.
Butler led 1-0 when Tom McCarthy scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth as each team managed just two hits in the first five frames.
“Getting the chance to see (Gross) a few times and then taking advantage of the mistakes was huge for us,” said first-year Champion City manager Mike Ruechel. “I thought we did a real good job with that. We had a couple of things go our way and made it a little comfortable for us.”
That comfort didn't last long.
Butler crawled back into the game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the lead to 8-5.
The big blow was a two-run double by third baseman Brady Gulaksowski.
Butler again threatened in the bottom of the eighth, putting runners on first and second with one out, but Kings' reliever Dan Kreuzer was able to get a strikeout and a lineout to end the inning.
Champion City tacked on another run in the top of the ninth on a pinch-hit double by DJ Dillon.Herald, though, was pleased with the way his team, which was just assembled for the first time three days ago and is still missing some key players, kept grinding.“They have a lot of fight,” Herald said. “Being around here as long as I have, I think this group is the closer than any group. They're all friends. They're all talking.“First game's out of the way,” Herald added. “You win some you lose some. The great thing about this game is we're going to wake up tomorrow and play again.”Champion City 000 003 501 — 9 13 3Butler 000 100 400 — 5 5 3W: Jake Vance 6IP (8K, 1BB). L: Mark Gross 5.1IP (5K, 2BB).Champion City (1-0): Nate Cobb 1B, Jett Swetland 1B, Louis Miceli 2B RBI, Seth Gray 3-1B 2-RBI, Larry Crisler 1B, Gage Taylor 2B 1B, John Medich 2-1B RBI, DJ Dillon 2B RBI, Tanner Burns 2B RBIButler (0-1): Ben Carew 1B, Brady Gulaksowski 1B 2B 2-RBI, Erik Bolton 1B, Joe Gunn 1B, Cory Wheeler RBIToday: Champion City at Butler
