Joes suffer a doubleheader loss at home

Hamilton forces extra innings in the nightcap, but falls in 13 frames to Southern Ohio.

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By John Bombatch, Staff Writer 12:48 AM Sunday, July 25, 2010

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Joes can’t blame the hot weather Saturday, July 24, for their doubleheader loss at Foundation Field. According to coach Darrel Grissom, they can only blame themselves.

The Southern Ohio Copperheads won 6-3 in the seven-inning afternoon game, but they needed 13 innings to defeat the Joes 7-3 in the nightcap.

The Copperheads, who improved to 18-11 and are in third place in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, swept the four-game series between the two teams.

“We probably won’t get back to Athens until 2 or 3 in the morning, so it’s nice to know that we’re coming back with a pair of wins,” Copperheads reliever and game-winner Zach Sterling said. “It’s always nice when you can sweep a team series, too.”

Hamilton (20-14) lost a pair of games in Athens during a June 19 doubleheader.

Saturday’s second game went extra innings because Hamilton scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wally Gerbus singled to left, then scored on a throwing error. Patrick Curtin reached third on the same error. He then scored on Kevin Park’s sacrifice fly to left to tie the game.

While Hamilton (20-14) threatened to score on several occasions, Southern Ohio broke the game open in the 13th inning.

Robbie Moir beat out an infield grounder for a single. Matt Hitt drew a walk, then Moir scored on a throwing error, Hamilton’s fourth error of game two and ninth of the day. Hitt, Wes O’Neill and Jared Hook also scored for the snakes.

“I couldn’t get the team to wake up in that first game, and it probably wasn’t until about midway through the second that they started playing hard,” Grissom said. “But we battled, and we played hard in that second game. We just couldn’t score runs when we had the opportunities tonight.

“I told the players to start thinking about (today’s) game in Canton. The bus leaves at 8:30 in the morning,” Grissom said. “We’ve got to forget about these games and move on.”

• Play was stopped before the start of the fifth inning of the second game because one of the umpires was having health issues and was complaining of chest pain, a Joes official said. He was transported to a hospital.

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