After scoring in bunches through seven innings of back-and-fourth action, the Buckeye Valley baseball team used small ball to land the final blow in an 11-10, 10-inning win over visiting North Union Wednesday in Delaware.
Landon Alexander opened the bottom of the 10th with a single to center and, after Travis Pennington and Evan Ulrich pushed him to third with back-to-back sacrifice bunts, Alexander sprinted home with the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
The Barons have been getting it done in the clutch a lot lately, which includes the six-run seventh they put together en route to a 9-6 win over the Wildcats Tuesday at North Union.
“This is just a strong group of competitors,” BV coach Drew Kirby said. “They’re never too high, never too low … they have an even-keel attitude and refuse to quit.
“They just flat out compete.”
They needed every bit of that competitive attitude Wednesday as well. North Union took a 7-2 lead with a seven-run top of the third, but the Barons, as they’ve shown a tendency to do, battled back.
They got a run closer in the bottom of the third and scratched across five in the fourth to knot things at eight.
BV took a 9-8 lead with a run in the fifth and, after North Union scored two in the sixth, answered with one in the bottom half to keep things even.
Alexander finished with three hits, two RBI and two runs scored while Ulrich, Andy Anthony and Zach Schneider added two apiece, with Schneider knocking in a team-high three runs.
Olentangy 5, Olentangy Orange 0
The Olentangy baseball team scored in each of its first three trips to the plate en route to an OCC win over host Olentangy Orange Wednesday in Lewis Center.
The Braves set the tone with a two-run first inning before plating one in the second and two more in the third.
Nick Foy took over from there. He allowed five hits while striking out six and walking two on the way to notching the complete-game shutout.
Caden Kaiser, Logan Ketron and Josh Moeller had two hits apiece to lead the Olentangy offense. Ketron and Connor McCulty knocked in a combined four runs, two apiece, while Sutton Bucci had the other RBI.
Ben Miller finished 2-for-3 to lead Orange at the plate.
Big Walnut 12, Franklin Heights 0, 5 inn.
Nathan Lawyer and Noah Sprowls had three hits apiece and Cale Sherbourne finished with a game-best three RBI to lead the Golden Eagles to a lopsided league win over the host Falcons Wednesday in Columbus.
Big Walnut led 1-0 before breaking things open with a five-run third.
Olentangy Liberty 5, Westerville Central 1
Mitchell Okuley finished a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored while Corbin Parrish knocked in three to lead the Patriots to an OCC win over the visiting Warhawks Wednesday in Powell.
The win gave Liberty, which clinched a share of the OCC crown with a win over Westerville North earlier this week, the league title outright.
Central tied the game with a run in the top of the third, but Liberty regained control with two runs in the bottom half. The Patriots added two more in the fifth to smooth out the scoring summary.
Jack Metzger earned the win on the mound, allowing a run on six hits while striking out 10 and walking two in six innings of work.
SOFTBALL
Groveport used a pair of big innings to knock off visiting Big Walnut Wednesday, scoring five runs in the third and five more in the fifth on the way to an 11-1, 5-inning win Wednesday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles pounded out six his in the setback, including doubles by Hailey Krinn, Jojo Lucas and Stacey Walters.
Lexy Bullock had BW’s lone RBI.
Also: North Union 10, Buckeye Valley 0, 6 inn.; Westerville North 7, Olentangy Orange 5.
BOYS TENNIS
Big Walnut 3, Hilliard Darby 2; Dublin Jerome 5, Delaware Hayes 0; Buckeye Valley 3, River Valley 2.
