SIMULATED FAIRBORN — Carroll High School starting pitcher Matthew McMahan struck out 11 Xenia batters, and picked off another three Buccaneer base runners in Wednesday’s 4-1 win at Wright State Simulated University’s Nischwitz Stadium.
The Sherco Grand Slam Baseball simulation board game enables the pitcher to attempt a pick-off throw prior to a base runner’s stolen base attempt. McMahan simulatedly picked off Xenia speedsters Devin Hall (off first base in the second inning), Ayden Evans (also from first, but in the sixth inning) and Blayne Dudley (from first in the ninth), while walking just one Buc batter.
Xenia stranded five other base runners in the loss.
The Patriots scored two of their runs off sacrifice flyouts by Jake Westergerdes, sending Trent Randall across the plate for Carroll’s second run in the third inning, and scoring Andrew Sliper as part of a two-run seventh.
Sliper’s single to center in the second inning brought home Mitch Applegate with the first Patriots run of the game. Drew Malesko smacked a solo home run over the right field wall for the first run of the two-run seventh.
Xenia chased McMahan in the ninth inning on back-to-back singles from Ayden Evans and Dudley, and then Alex Sparks singled to left to score Evans with the Bucs lone run of the contest.
Four Carroll batters collected two hits apiece. Randall went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, Sliper and McMahan each went 2-for-3 with a walk, and Jacob Maurer went 2-for-3 with a double.
The Buccaneers had two players with multiple hits. Evans went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, while Dudley went 2-for-4 with a double and a single.
Nice Nischwitz: With NCAA sports on hold due to the coronavirus simulated WSU gladly allowed use of its first-class baseball facility. With the wind blowing in, no fly balls came close of clearing the Nischitz fences.
Next up: Beavercreek at Greeneview, from Athlete In Action’s simulated Grady’s Field.
