Cougars shake off rust; down New Miami

CCS rolls to 10-0 win in its first game in eight days.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 10:41 PM Friday, May 15, 2009

FAIRFIELD — Coach Bill Lanphier was concerned that his Cincinnati Christian High School baseball team might be a little rusty heading into the Division IV sectionals.

It was a worry his Cougars quickly put to rest with a 10-0 run-rule victory over the New Miami Vikings on Friday, May 15 at Waterworks Park.

“It had been a week and a day since we last played,” said Lanphier, whose squad improved to 14-5. “That had us nervous. We’d been indoors that long because of rain-outs.

“But one thing our guys commit to do is to come out and play hard,” he added, “and that’s all we ask of them.”

CCS played hard alright, scoring at least one run in all five innings, playing flawless defense and getting a three-hit shutout from senior right-hander Micah Parker.

Parker said he tries to keep his pitches low “and let the defense do the work.”

Lanphier said it wasn’t Parker’s best game of the season.

“He had quite a lot of rust on him” the Cougars coach said. “We went fairly deep on some counts, and he walked the leadoff hitter in the first inning and in the next inning.

“Her hasn’t pitched for, oh my, a week and a half, I guess,” Lanphier said. “Pitchers like to get into a rhythm, and it did take him a while to get into a rhythm, but he battled.”

Still, Parker recorded eight strikeouts in the shortened game and survived the one serious threat by the Vikings, who loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the third inning on singles by Nate Carberry and Casey Chesnut and a walk to Kenny Gabbard. A called third strike ended the rally.

“We’re not a very deep team,” said New Miami first-year head coach Matt Morris, whose team finished 8-9 and posted a first-round tournament win. “We roll with 13 players, and losing (catcher Robert Martin) in the second inning, that was a big loss for us.”

Martin was forced out of the game after getting bloody nose on a collision at home plate. He was replaced by Cody Couch, “and Cody hadn’t caught an inning all season,” Morris said.

“But this was the best group of kids I could ask for, hard workers, no trouble out of them,” added Morris. “And they learned the game, how to do the little things right.

Austin Rahmes scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Parker. Carberry had made a diving catch in center, but had no chance to throw out Rahmes, who had walked and advanced on Matt Fleenor’s single and a wild pitch.

Brian Kirschbaum had a run-scoring triple, Josh Lanphier and Chris Gortner each doubled and Jake Savage had a successful squeeze but for the Cougars, who will play Summit Country Day in the sectional final at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 19 at Roselawn Park.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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