Lynchburg-Clay’s 20th win sends them to district finals

CHILLICOTHE — On a chilly and rainy Tuesday evening at VA Memorial Stadium in the Division V SE District Semifinals, the No. 1 seeded Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs played small ball perfectly to help them defeat the Piketon Redstreaks by a 6-0 score, advancing to the district finals. 

Lynchburg-Clay (20-3) struggled with hits as they had four for the game, but they played near-perfect defense, had high-quality pitching, and the veteran ball club took advantage of Piketon miscues, scoring four of their six runs on wild pitches, passed balls and once stealing home. 

“Good teams find a way to win. We played through the elements down here tonight. It is about 60 degrees, raining constantly, it never quit and it actually rained harder from the time we started until the time the game ended,” LCHS head coach James Flowers said. “Hats off to the boys. The bats weren’t quite as alive as they have been all season, but we practiced small ball. We never really had to execute it, but we were able to put it to use tonight, manufacture some runs and it worked out well for us.”

The shutout against Piketon (12-16) was the 16th shutout of the season for the Mustangs, as they have now outscored opponents 250-36 in 23 total games this season.

For the first three innings, neither the Mustangs nor the Redstreaks were able to get a run to cross the plate, and it wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth inning when Lynchburg-Clay scored the first run of the game, as the longer the game went on, the skies opened up with rain. 

The bottom of the fourth for the Mustangs started with a double hit to the right field wall by Josiah Burns (1-for-1, two runs, two walks) on a 2-1 count, putting himself in scoring position, Burns then stole third and later in the inning raced home on a wild pitch for the 1-0 advantage. 

Lynchburg-Clay added their second run of the game in the bottom of the fifth with Trevor Niehaus (two runs, two walks) drawing a full-count walk to lead off the inning. From there, a sacrifice bunt by Cody Bell moved Niehaus to second, who then stole third base and later stole home for the 2-0 Mustangs lead. 

The highest-scoring inning for LCHS was the bottom of the sixth where they went from a two-run lead to a 6-0 advantage. 

Burns led off with a full-count walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by West. Next, Cole Wells was intentionally walked, where Austin Bell entered the game as a pinch runner. Both runners then advanced on a passed ball. Again, another passed ball in the at-bat allowed Burns to make it a 3-0 lead, and Austin Bell to advance to third base. 

The at-bat also saw Christian Flowers (1-for-2, one run, one walk) draw a walk, where he eventually landed on second base.

LC’s lead went to five runs as Flowers scored a run on another passed ball, followed by Niehaus forcing a walk on four straight pitches. The Mustangs’ final two runs crossed the plate as Cody Bell (1-for-2, two RBI) hit a ball past the shortstop, plating Flowers and Niehaus for the 6-0 lead. Also with a hit in the inning was Tanner Roberts. LC in the game also had a walk by Elam Faust. 

“That’s a veteran baseball team that’s been playing for a while,” Flowers said of how his team manufactured runs. “I threw some new things at them in practice this week. They adapted quickly, we practiced hard and that included on the holiday and we were able to get it done.”

“Top to bottom in the sixth inning, I challenged them all, and I said we have to find a way to get everyone to the plate this inning, and we send eight of nine to the plate. They just keep rising to the challenge, no matter what it is. It was rough out here tonight, but we were able to get the W and move on.” 

Now there is also the pitching performance by West, who was nearly untouchable in the game, finishing with a complete seven innings pitched, allowing no runs on two hits and two walks with 11 strikeouts. West finished the game with 100 pitches, 68 for strikes. 

“Braedon West ended with 11 strikeouts. He struggled early because he couldn’t get ahold of the baseball due to the elements, but as the game went on he really settled in, and that’s what I expect from a senior,” Flowers said. 

West on the mound began the game with a strikeout and had two for the inning. In the second he added another strikeout and had two ground ball outs, giving him three of those in the first two innings. 

The top of the third, Piketon made a little noise with their first hit of the game, plus forcing two walks, and an error by LCHS loaded the bases with two outs. That didn’t matter for West, as he ended the inning with a called third strike on a 2-2 count, keeping Piketon stranded on the bases. 

In the fourth, West kept the Redstreaks scoreless again, this time with two strikeouts in the inning, as he fended off Piketon’s second hit of the game, forcing them to leave two runners on the bases. 

The final three innings, West faced the minimum, with nine-up, nine-down in the Piketon lineup, with five of those batters striking out, including two strikeouts in the sixth and two more in the top of the seventh. 

Next for the No. 1 seeded Mustangs is a return trip to the district finals, as their Division V opponent will be a rematch of last postseason, facing the No. 6 seeded Portsmouth Trojans on Thursday, May 29 at Ohio University’s Wren Stadium at 7 p.m. 

Lynchburg-Clay last won a district baseball championship in 1997.

Portsmouth won their district semifinal game against McDermott Northwest by a 10-0 score in five innings on Tuesday following LC’s win at VA Memorial Stadium. 

Last season, the Mustangs and Trojans played in a classic game where Portsmouth won by a 6-5 score with a walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh inning at Ohio University. 

“It’s not bad for two years of coaching high school baseball to get to the district finals two years in a row. This group is senior loaded, nine seniors, we also have some young kids. This is a good mix of kids,” Flowers said. “They like to go out and have a good time on the field, but they were a little tight this game for my liking, but hopefully get this one behind us and they’ll loosen up a bit and know what to expect.”

BOX SCORE
PHS    000 000 0 — 0 2 0 
LCHS    000 114 x — 6 4 1