By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Greenville baseball team lost to Sidney at home, 6-3, on May 1. After falling behind 5-0 early, the Green Wave were able to fight back and make it a game in the later innings.

Greenville head coach Adam Eberwein said the mistakes the team made in their loss to Troy followed them into this game. Early in the game, Sidney pounded the ball in play. Greenville had some trouble early getting outs.

“I understand you play the game long enough that’s just kind of the way things fall sometimes. But when you’re playing teams that we play in the MVL, you can’t make little mistakes. You can’t make small base running mistakes. You can’t afford to have two or three errors in a game and still expect to be able to win at the end of the day,” Eberwein said.

Both teams got a runner to third base in the first inning, but couldn’t get them in to score.

After a few errors and some hard hit balls, Sidney grabbed the lead.

In the top of the second inning, Sidney scored two runs on two RBI singles by freshman Kade Swiger and junior Eli McKenzie. The Yellow Jackets came out in the third inning and put up three more runs.

Senior Nick Nuss hit a RBI double followed by a RBI single by senior Landyn Arnold. A sacrifice flyout by sophomore Zavier Perry gave Sidney an early 5-0 lead.

Greenville battled back in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs, the Green Wave had bases loaded. Freshman Isaac Kerg hit a RBI single to drive in Greenville’s first run.

Junior Braeden Wills then scored on a wild pitch. Senior Bryce Blumenstock put a ball in play to help drive in the third run of the inning for Greenville.

From the fourth inning on, Greenville limited Sidney to three hits. After Sidney was sending balls deep into the outfield, Greenville only gave up three singles the rest of the game.

Eberwein said his pitchers had a good game, the team just couldn’t outs every once in awhile behind them. Freshman Cole Oswalt started the game and pitched four innings and had two strikeouts. He only gave up three earned runs.

The freshman has came in and pitched well for the Green Wave this season.

“As a freshman, it’s sometimes a daunting task to go up against some of the teams we go up against. Cole has come out and he throws well. He throws strikes and he’s consistent,” Eberwein said.

Then Blumenstock came in and pitched the last three innings. He gave up one hit and had five strikeouts, including striking out the side in the sixth inning. Eberwein said Blumenstock started to focus on his pitching his sophomore year.

The hard work Blumenstock put into his pitching has shown with his outings on the mound.

“The last couple of years here, he’s really turned it on pretty well to be a good solid pitcher. He came out and did his job too. He came out and threw strikes. Had some of his off-speed working pretty good today, which is always good,” Eberwein said.

Throughout the game, Greenville got some base runners on and got into scoring position. Eberwein said the mistakes on defense did translate to the team’s base running.

At times, the Green Wave didn’t take advantage of a Sidney mistake and get that extra base. It was the little mistakes that hurt the Green Wave.

Sidney scored their sixth run of the game in the fifth inning off an error. Outside of that, Greenville held Sidney scoreless for the rest of the game.

The Green Wave didn’t go away quietly. In the bottom of the seventh, freshman Titus Eberwein led off with a single. After a stolen base and a ground out, Eberwein was at third base.

With two outs, Greenville had two players on base with the tying run at the plate. Greenville couldn’t get the one hit to start the scoring rally.

Greenville is now 9-12 on the season with a 5-11 MVL record. The young team has had their ups and downs this season.

Eberwein said they started the year inconsistent, but has improved as the season went on. The team has already surpassed their win total from last season. But there’s still more work to do.

Eberwein said the team needs to be efficient to win ball games. The days they are not efficient are the days they lose some close games.

“There’s times where we’re inefficient. Whether it’s pitching or consistently hitting. Without playing all complimentary baseball, it’s tough to be successful when that’s not all put together,” Eberwein said.

Greenville will host Fort Loramie on May 2 with the first pitch at 5 p.m. They will rematch Sidney on May 3 at Sidney at 5 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].