by Sarah Newgarde

ATHENS, Ohio – The Southern Ohio Copperheads fought hard for their 5-3 victory over the Hamilton Joes. After being scoreless for four innings and then trailing 3-0, an impressive show of bats and willpower showed exactly why Southern Ohio is the first seed in the playoffs.

Austin Weaver came in cold to pitch the top of the fourth inning when Michael Darrell-Hicks exited the game due to injury. Weaver struck out the home run leader Griffin Doersching and kept the game scoreless.

Hamilton then broke ahead in the top of the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, Jared Kauffman singled to right field, scoring Michael Hall and putting Chandler Miller on third with one out. Another single, this time from Compton, scored Miller to bring the score to 2-0. Kauffman scored off of yet another single, but Weaver caught Chris Hamilton looking, sending Southern Ohio back to the plate.

Hamilton was the "Hot Dog Hitter" and when he struck out, the crowd went into a frenzy. The "Hot Dog Rally" then began.

Ty Suntken led off the bottom of the sixth with a double. A groundout from Zazzaro moved Suntken to third and Zuberer brought the score to 3-2 with a towering shot over the right field fence.

Southern Ohio prevented the Joes from scoring again in the top of the seventh before Joey Weisenseel led off with a walk, quickly taking second on a pass ball before stealing third. With Conner Bell pitching for Hamilton, Weisenseel on third and Zuberer at first, Blaine Crim knocked a three-run homer to left-center field, pulling the Copperheads ahead 5-3.

“I knew what his off-speed looked like from my at bat last time,” said Blaine Crim. “Blake [Holub] hit behind me and I’m going to get a pitch to hit, even though I’m the MVP or whatever, but that doesn’t mean anything because Blake can come up here and hit it as hard as anyone in the league.”

After a scoreless eighth, Joel Hake closed the game with a seamless three-up, three-down ninth, securing the Copperheads’ 5-3 win.

“We’ve had who knows how many comeback wins when we were down in the middle of the game,” said head coach Phil Butler. “They just continue show resilience and the ability to not get down on themselves and continue to be ready for a fight. It’s been an absolute joy coaching them.”

Up next, the Copperheads travel to Hamilton, Ohio to face the Joes again for game two of the three-game series. They will return to Bob Wren Stadium if needed on Saturday for the final game of the series against the Joes.