BEVERLY - What started out as a tight battle between Beverly/Lowell Post 389-750 and Coshocton Post 65 turned into a laugher as Beverly/Lowell defeated Coshocton 12-4 on Wednesday.
Beverly/Lowell was powered on offense by Warren graduates Landon Kern and Tyler Proctor. Kern went 4-for-4 on the day with two doubles, three runs scored and a run batted in.
Proctor hit a deep two-run home run to center field in the bottom of the fifth to give Todd Engle's squad a 5-2 lead, a lead that it would not give up.
"He had a phenomenal year last year," Engle said of the third baseman. "He propels this team. He and Clay Ullman have been a pretty formidable tandem in the middle of our order."
On the mound, Fort Frye grad Zach Eddy gave Beverly/Lowell eight strong innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and striking out seven batters to earn the win.
"We knew he was gonna be our number one coming in," Engle said. "We knew we would ride him pretty hard. He was up around 120 pitches tonight, which he said was pretty common for him in high school. He's a workhorse."
Fact Box
Beverly/Lowell 12, Coshocton 4
Coshocton 000 202 000 - 4 8 5
Beverly/Lowell 102 020 25X -12 12 1
WP: Eddy 8 IP, 7 SO, 1 BB
Clay Ullman 1 IP, 1 SO
LP: Bowman 6 IP, 7 SO, 3 BB
Bradley Johnson 1.1 IP, 2 SO
Christian Osborn .2 IP
Coshocton hitters: Wood 1-3, 2 runs; Adams 2-4, 1 run; Bowman 1-3, 1 run; Schlabach 2-4, 1 RBI; Dillon Shepler 1-4; Johnson 1-1
B/L hitters: Lenington 2-5, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Kern 4-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI; Proctot 2-3, 2 runs, 3 RBI; C. Ullman 1-5, 1 run; J. Ullman 1-3, 1 RBI; Grosel 2-4, 1 RBI; Satterfield 0-3, 2 runs; Sawyer 0-0, 1 run
Next game: Beverly/Lowell at Troy Saturday
Beverly/Lowell got on the scoreboard first in the opening frame. Marietta's own Eli Lenington struck out, but reached on a passed ball and went to second on a wild pitch. He would move to third on Kern's first base hit, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Proctor.
The score would remain 1-0 until the bottom of the third. Jordan Satterfield, of Marietta, walked to lead off the inning, and advanced to second on a passed ball. Kern came up with his second hit of the game, a double to right center, to drive in Satterfield. Kern would come around to score on a double by Ullman to give Beverly/Lowell a 3-0 lead.
Coshocton cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fourth. Vayden Wood led off the inning with a single to center, followed by another single to center by Michael Adams. Wood would move to third on a fielder's choice by Dyson Bowman, and would score on a balk. Bowman, who started on the mound for Coshocton, scored on a single to left field by Brad Schlabach to make the score 3-2.
After Proctor drove in himself and Lenington in the fifth with the homer, Coshocton put two more runs on the board to make the score 5-4. Wood led off with a walk, stole second, and advanced to third when the ball kicked out of shortstop Jake Ullman's glove. Wood then scored on an error committed by Ullman on a groundball from Adams. Adams would make it around to third, and would score on a successful double steal to cut the Cherokee deficit to a run.
That would be all the scoring for Coshocton, as Eddy would settle down, and the Beverly/Lowell poured on seven more runs.
Kern, who led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, would advance to third and score on a wild pitch. Proctor, who also singled in the inning, would score on Jake Ullman's single to left field to make the score 7-4.
Beverly/Lowell blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth. Gunnar Smith started things by reaching on an error. He and Evan Sawyer, who came in to pinch run for Satterfield, would come around to score on Lenington's triple to right field. Kern doubled in Lenington for his fourth hit of the game to put Beverly/Lowell up 10-4.
"Landon is one of our captains," Engle said of the catcher, who also threw out three runners from behind the dish in the game. "I could talk about him all night long. He gave us quality at bats tonight. That's what you get from him."
Beverly/Lowell capped the scoring with a Clay Ullman ground ball to short, that was bobbled and allowed Kern to score, and a single to right field by Tim Grosel to score Ullman.
Eddy picked up the victory, and Bowman, who went six innings and gave up seven runs while striking out seven, was tagged with the loss.
The Cherokees committed five errors to just one by Beverly/Lowell, but Engle believes the team still has to work on some areas.
"We had some things happen tonight that we need to improve on," Engle said. "We made several mental errors tonight, which we don't normally do. We've got a lot of kids involved in multiple things that are going on right now. But that's Legion ball."
Beverly/Lowell will be back in action this weekend, when it travels to Troy to compete in a six team tournament.
