Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — If Saturday was an early season test, Unioto passed with flying colors.
Tasked with two games against two different opponents — and coming off a loss to rival Zane Trace — the Shermans didn’t bat an eye.
They picked up a 6-1 victory over Westfall in SVC action and, just hours later, Dylan Grubbs played a hero role, ripping a two-run double in the game’s final at-bat to give them a 6-5 walk-off, come-from-behind win over Jackson.
“Even though we won, our energy wasn’t all the way there for the game against Westfall,” Grubbs said. “But when we got here to the VA [Memorial Stadium], we kind of flipped a switch and it just felt like a whole new dugout. The energy was higher, we were chirping a little bit to get ourselves going and that set the tone for the game.”
In addition to his lone, and the Shermans’ most important, hit of the day, Grubbs also earned the win on the mound in one inning of work, following six innings from starter Owen Link, who allowed three earned runs and struck out seven batters.
Jackson struck first, wanting to start quickly. The Ironmen accomplished that when Ryan Seimetz ripped a triple into right-center field. He scored during the next at-bat on a passed ball, putting his team ahead 1-0.
Unioto responded in the bottom half of the first inning when Landyn Patterson registered a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
After an inning of scoreless play, Seimetz continued to swing a hot bat as he smoked an RBI double into left field. He then went on to score on another passed ball, pushing Jackson’s lead to 3-1.
A scoreless fourth and top of the fifth set the stage for Unioto in the bottom half of the inning.
Following a double from Ashton Crace, Jaxon Zickafoose found a gap for an RBI single that cut the lead to 3-2.
“I know that I’m not going to crush the ball or anything like that, but it all comes down to just making contact with the ball and putting it in play,” Zickafoose said. “The guys always tell me that I’m fast enough to beat out any ball in play. I do my best to get on base since I know we have power hitters behind me that will bring me around the bases and knock me in.”
On the next at-bat, one of those “power hitters” came to the dish.
Keegan Snyder muscled an RBI triple into left-center field before scoring on the next at-bat thanks to a throwing error, giving the Shermans a 4-3 lead.
However, Jackson wasn’t going away that easily.
After a Ramey Wyant two-out double, Cade Wolford showed his speed by legging out an infield RBI single, tying the game at 4-4.
After a fielding error put Jackson’s leadoff runner on third base, the Shermans managed to get the next two batters out. But on a 1-2, two-out offering, Nolan Johnson made contact and laced an RBI single through the left side of Unioto’s infeield, giving the Ironmen a 5-4 lead.
All that now stood between victory for Jackson was three outs.
But the Shermans had other plans.
Zickafoose made his way onto base early in the bottom of the seventh, which was followed by a walk to Patterson. After a passed ball moved both runners up 90 feet, Grubbs stepped to the plate.
He took a 3-2 pitch and gave it a ride to deep left-center field for a double and a win.
“We had runners on and I was nervous coming up to that at-bat. I knew my only job was just to put the ball in play and at least get one run in to tie it up,” Grubbs said. “That was my goal, to tie the game and shut Jackson down if they came up to bat again. When I made contact, I thought the ball was hit right to their center fielder. But as I kept running, he kept going further back and the ball hit the ground. That was all I needed to see.”
Zickafoose finished 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Shermans, while Snyder was 1-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.
For Jackson, Seimetz finished 2-for-4 with a triple, a double, and an RBI while Wolford was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Johnson was 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Ramey Wyant tossed four innings in a no-decision outing, striking out three.
Unioto returns to the field on Monday for SVC action at Adena, while Jackson hosts Hillsboro that same evening in FAC play.
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