By Calen VanNess
Salem (8-0, 3-0 SCA) and Ava (9-3, 3-1 SCA) both came into Thursday afternoon’s tilt with undefeated SCA records. After a tightly contested first four innings, a three-run fifth inning for Salem finally put the Bears away in route to a 6-3 win on Thursday.
It did not take long for the Tigers to pounce. After senior Dalton Cook hit a one-out triple in the first inning, senior starting pitcher Kory Ramsey hit a single to give Salem an early 1-0 lead.
Salem increased the lead after sophomore second baseman Boone Schrader hit a one-out RBI single in the fourth inning. He later scored on an errant throw home from the outfield that Ava junior catcher Trey Everett could not corral. Schrader also had an RBI in the fifth inning and then scored on a wild pitch increased Salem’s lead to 6-2.
Tigers head coach Phillip Karr knew his team did not play their best baseball, but he was proud of them for battling through the adversity and getting the win.
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“To put it bluntly, we were pretty sloppy tonight,” said Karr. “The field played fast, and we made too many errors defensively. We had a few throwing errors that cost us, but credit the kids when you make that many mistakes and you still hold a team to three runs in seven innings and get a big win on the road. You have to be happy.”
Ava made a valiant effort at a comeback by putting runners on first and second base with two outs in the seventh inning before hitting a pop-up that was caught in foul territory.
Ramsey struck out four batters and allowed only one-earned run in 4.2 innings. The run came on a no-doubt home run by Ava sophomore shortstop Caleb Johnson in the fourth inning that cut Salem’s lead to 3-1.
Although knowing he did not have all his pitches to work with, Karr was pleased with Ramsey’s performance.
“I thought he was pretty good,” said Karr. “His changeup was good tonight, and his fastball was pretty solid. His curveball wasn’t really working too well for him tonight and that got him into some trouble, but all-in-all I thought he did a pretty good job.”
Aeneas Stout hit a single in the sixth inning that scored senior Colton Skyles after a throwing error by the Tigers at third base. Senior Jon Arzt, who relieved Ramsey in the fourth inning, was able to limit the damage by striking out the next two batters and ending the inning with Stout still stranded at third base.
Schrader finished the game going 2-4 with two RBI for the Tigers. Johnson finished the evening going 4-4 with a home run, a double, and two singles.
After some rainouts earlier in the season, Karr is looking forward to the Salem Tournament on Friday and Saturday and feels that it should get his team better prepared for the next few weeks.
“Licking is in [the tournament], and they have a pretty good ball club,” said Karr. “Iberia is getting some votes for Class 2 rankings. St. James is getting votes in Class 4. It will be a tough tournament, but we will get a lot of at-bats. We have had three rainouts that have kind of gotten us out of a rhythm, but you expect to get a bunch of at-bats in the next two days and we expect to hit the ball better.”
Salem will begin tournament play against Iberia on Friday. Ava will look to begin a new winning streak as they will take on Cabool at home on April 17.
Salem 6, Ava 3
Salem 100 230 0–6
Ava 000 201 0–3
