XENIA — As the season winds down and the All-Star game approaches, the Xenia Scouts are trying to hold things together sliding into the postseason.
The injury-riddled Scouts got a much needed boost in the final day of regular season baseball at home, beating Northern Ohio 6-1, 8-2 in a doubleheader, Saturday at Grady’s Field in Xenia.
Xenia (23-15) has been up and down while dealing with injuries, and coach Bubba Cates said that his team is taking every game down the stretch seriously.
“We’re just trying to take care of our own business,” he said. “We knew that [Northern Ohio] could be tough. We had two good ball games up there against them. Those are college players, too. They’ve got some dangerous guys up there and if you get them in the right spot, they can hurt you.”
The Scouts beat Northern Ohio (6-23) in seven innings in the first game, 6-1. Ben Aldridge pitched a complete game, giving up just two hits with one run and one walk. He struck out three batters.
Xenia won the second game 8-2, but was slow to get rolling.
Nicklaus Street started on the mound for the Scouts, but hit three batters on the way to loading the bases and giving up two runs in the second inning. Tony Campbell came in as relief and got out of the inning without giving up another run.
“Tony came in there as our second guy and got us out of a bases loaded jam which doesn’t happen but once or twice a summer,” said Cates. “He did that and held them in there until we could score some runs. Their guy did a great job too. I thought he pitched well.”
Campbell gave up six hits through six innings, but didn’t allow another run to score. He had no walks and two strikeouts. Thomas Waning closed.
“You can’t believe how warrior-like our pitching staff has been. We’re so thin today, I don’t know what we would have done if Ben didn’t throw a complete game in the first game and we don’t get five innings out of Tony,” said Cates. “The only other guy we didn’t use today was Joe Chasen and finished last night’s game and the game before.”
Xenia scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh to pull ahead. Northern Ohio made five errors in the loss.
The Scouts currently sit in third place in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League behind the Lima Locos and Hamilton Joes. They don’t play again as a team until next weekend when they play the Galion Graders at 7:05 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday at Heise Park.
Before then, six of the Scouts will participate in today’s league All-Star game.
“They don’t know what to expect, but they will get excited when it comes. This will be neat because it’s the better players in our league. It’s quite an honor. We had six guys chosen. That’s outstanding,” said Cates.
Hopefully that will give them some time to rest up.
“We don’t have enough guys on paper,” said Cates. “We’re making it as it goes. Our guy who has been playing right field for us and has had a great summer, Miles Wright, broke his foot [Friday] night. We’re down to three outfielders and our catcher, David Gauntt, had to play right field in the second ball game. He did a good job, but we can’t make a whole lot of changes.”
Reach Zach Gregory at (937) 372-4444, Ext. 2124.
