SHINGLEHOUSE — Needing to win two of their final three games of the regular season to make the playoffs, the Otto-Eldred baseball team is one game away from the postseason after a 15-0 win over Oswayo Valley.
The Terrors attacked early, scoring an onslaught of runs to start the game.
After a pair of walks, Jaden Prince hit a ground ball to drive in the first run of the afternoon. Landon Francis would then send the ball into left field for a double that drove in two more runs. The next batter, Zach Schuessler had a line drive into center field that drove in another pair of Terrors runs.
A walk and then a single from Davey Schenfield loaded up the bases. Shane Magee got hit by a pitch to send the runner on third home. Manning Splain hit a sacrifice pop fly to the center fielder, but the baserunner tagged up to add on another run. To cap off a strong start, in Prince’s second at bat of the inning he hit a single to the outfield that allowed two final scores to touch home plate. This strong offensive burst put the Terrors up 9-0.
“The big focus was remembering the loss we picked up here last year that cost us a league championship,” said O-E head coach Lance Baker. “We came out attacking early and that led to some runs. Our defense allowed us to come back in the dugout quickly and hang onto our momentum.”
The Terrors’ defense got three quick outs and picked up right where they left off from the first. Schenfield got hit by a pitch and would be driven in a few pitches later when a Hunter App groundball skidded past the shortstop into the outfield. A couple of batters later, Jared Obenrader’s hard-hit ground ball caused the Green Wave defense to drop the ball and allowed a baserunner to score, extending the lead to 11-0.
Just like the bottom of the first inning, the Terrors’ defense would go one, two, three quick outs and back into the dugout, thanks to the strong pitching of Jared Obenrader. The Terrors would see four straight walks allowing them to score. App would get out on a ground ball but drove in another run. The next batter, Magee hit a pop fly to center field for a sacrifice fly. To finish off the third, Splain hit a line drive to center field to top off a 15-0.
Being down 15 runs, the Green Wave were in danger of ending the game by mercy rule. The Terrors finished the job by ending the game with three consecutive strikeouts. Obenrader pitched for all but the last batter and did not allow a single hit in all three innings.
“We went with Jared today,” said Baker. “He is one of the best number two pitchers around. He was attacking the plate and threw strikes. We were able to pull him at the end to save him for tomorrow, so having our top two pitchers will help us with the shot to pick up one of the last two games.”
The Terrors were led by Prince, who went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and Schuessler went 1-for-2 with 2 RBIs.
O-E’s playoff hopes came down to their last two games of the season. They just have to pick up one win on either their final home game against Kane on Tuesday or on the road against Coudersport on Wednesday.
“The kids know how hard it is to pick up two wins in the last three games to qualify for the playoffs. This was the first step and now we have to go get one more over the next two days,” Baker said.
AT SHINGLEHOUSE
R H E
Otto-Eldred 924 XXX X 15 7 0
Oswayo Valley 000 XXX X 0 0 4
Otto-Eldred: Obenrader (5 SO, 0 BB), Prince (3) (1 SO, 0 BB) and Schenfield
Oswayo Valley: Bonney (1 SO, 4 BB), Goode (2) (0 SO, 2 BB), Mesler (3) (0 SO, 2 BB) and Norton
