By Jacob Russell

CINCINNATI, Ohio - Fans at Wednesday’s doubleheader saw the two extremes of Steam victories: a dominant near-shutout and a 9-8 extra-inning thriller.

Warsaw Federal Player of the Game Eddie Pursinger (Dayton), who hit cleanup and played first base, had four RBIs in game one after going yard twice. Pursinger will start at first base for the South Division in the 2019 GLSCL All-Star Game. 

A solo shot in the bottom of the second inning off the bat of Pursinger began Cincinnati’s damage on Jazz starter Nate Hemmerich’s (Earlham College) record. 

In the following inning, Pursinger hit a three-run homer that scored right fielder Grant Richardson (Indiana) and third baseman Braydon Runion (Walters State CC). Runion knocked in his team’s second run, left fielder Jake Silverstein (Dayton), with a single.

With his team at a 5-0 deficit, Hemmerich was relieved after four innings with a line of six hits and five earned runs allowed, six strikeouts and three walks. His record fell to 1-2. 

Center fielder Ethan Stringer (Louisville) brought in the Steam’s last two runs, Runion and Pursinger, using a single in the fifth inning off Richmond lefty Joshua Lee (Indiana Tech).

Brock Nartker (Wright State) pitched the first five innings for Cincinnati and allowed only one hit. Nartker’s start in which he struck out four and walked three was his first win (and decision) of the season.

Southpaw Casey Grimm (Wright State Lake) gave up two hits and one unearned run, struck out two and walked one while finishing the Steam’s 7-1 win.

Game two was won by the incredible Steam debut of Warsaw Federal Player of the Game Christian Bault (Eastern Michigan). The third baseman reached base five times and knocked in the winning run in the third extra inning. 

Both teams scored their first two runs in the third inning. Jazz leadoff man Noah Suarez (Salem International) hit an RBI single and later scored on a Jake Burlingame (Canisius College) double. Silverstein, who will start for the South Division in the 2019 GLSCL All-Star Game, hit a homer with Bault on base to tie the game. 

Zackary Stiteler (Ohio Wesleyan) helped his team regain the lead with a two-RBI double in the top of the fourth inning. Stiteler’s double ended the start of Jared Flueck (Northern Kentucky), who gave up seven hits and four earned runs, struck out five and walked one and didn’t get a decision. 

A fielder’s choice allowed Ryan Wickman (Valparaiso) to reach home in the fifth inning and make the game 5-2 in favor of Richmond.

Bault scored on an error by the third baseman who fielded Eddie Rivero’s (Xavier) single and Richardson, who will start for the South Division in the 2019 GLSCL All-Star Game, hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Silverstein to put Cincinnati within one heading into the sixth.

Jazz starting pitcher Nicholas Carrizales (Earlham College) got no decision after giving up seven hits and five runs (four earned), striking out four and walking one in five and two-thirds innings. 

Shortstop Tyler Wardwell’s (Duke) sacrifice fly to right in the sixth tied the game at five. The score remained tied at five until the ninth, the second extra inning. 

Two of Richmond’s three runs in the ninth came in on catcher Hunter Nabors’ (Alabama Huntsville) double. A throwing error by the Jazz’s center fielder gave the Steam two of their three runs in the ninth.  

Lefty Jonathan Brus (Dayton) allowed an unearned run in the top of the tenth, but he’d still get his second win of the year. Catcher Cameron Rountree (Wright State) started on second base thanks to the GLSCL’s extra-innings rules and was the winning run that scored on Bault’s RBI single off Stiteler.

The Steam play the Southern Ohio Copperheads at Max McLeary Field this weekend starting at 7:05 p.m. on Friday.

Cincinnati’s other GLSCL South All-Stars not mentioned in this story are catcher Ben McCabe (Central Florida), who will start, and pitchers Andrew Noelker (Cincinnati), Jake Schrand (Wright State). 

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