Owls score twice in seventh to edge Batesville

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It looked as though the Seymour baseball team was going to be on the losing end of a pitchers’ duel Monday evening at American Legion Field.

Facing Batesville, in the bottom of the seventh the Owls were down 1-0.

The team had only one hit up until the seventh when Zach Carpenter laid down a bunt. Batesville relief pitcher Joe Bohman scooped up the ball and overthrew to first base, which led to AJ Boshears and RJ Kleber scoring, giving the Owls the 2-1 victory.

The inning began when Tyler Bloom led off with a walk. Boshears replaced Bloom as a pinch runner on first. Kleber reached after laying down a bunt, advancing Broshears. Michael Knecht struck out before Carpenter ended the game.

Owls coach Jeremy Richey said he was proud of the team’s mental toughness heading into the final inning only down one run.

“This group has been through a lot, especially the last couple days and I’m very proud of the way they didn’t give up and the way they finished,” he said, adding that the win was significant for the team. “They really needed this.”

Richey said that Carpenter was able to lay down the bunt in the right place at the right time and that the team did exactly what it needed to do in the final inning.

“He’s a very tough kid, and he just goes out there and does what he can do and he gets the bunt down at the right place and the right time, and we’re fortunate they threw it away, but we executed well to put ourselves in the position to win that,” he said.

Even though the Owls’ offense was quiet throughout the night, they remained in the game thanks to an impressive pitching performance by Bloom.

Bloom pitched a complete game, fanning 13 over seven innings, giving up one run, two hits and two walks.

Richey said Bloom has performed well throughout the season and that he was glad the team could pull through for him in the final inning.

“Tyler has thrown well for us all year, and looking at that, if we lose that one in the seventh inning, that’s a tough loss for him,” he said. “He was really good, and to win that one for him, he deserves a win because he threw very well.”

The lone run Bloom gave up was from a double from Batesville’s designated hitter, Alex Roell, who rocketed a double to right field in the fourth inning.

Jacob Christie, who had reached on an error, scored on the hit. The Owls were able to limit the damage, as Bohman put on the brakes at third. Bloom then struck out second baseman Lane Oesterling to end the inning with both Bohman and Roell in scoring position.

The Owls’ bats were quiet throughout the game, but the team was able to make contact on many pitches.

Batesville pitchers struck out just one batter and induced one double play.

Richey said his team had good at-bats, but hit balls were just going straight to Batesville’s defense.

“We put the ball in play and we didn’t have many strikeouts, but we just hit the ball right to them,” he said, adding that the Owls also lacked aggressiveness in some plate appearances. “I thought in the counts that we were ahead, we weren’t very aggressive and we looked like we were trying to put the ball in play instead of making something happen.”

Seth Maki and Kleber had the only two hits the Owls had.

Seymour also left six men on base.

The lack of offense is just the nature of the game, Richey said.

“That’s baseball,” he said. “We scored nine runs the other night against a pretty good pitcher, and tonight we scrounged for two.”

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