In Southern Ohio’s past two games, the team only scored a combined four runs, as its offensive struggles were a key factor in the losses to the Joes.

On Friday, the bats woke up and exploded back into form, as the Copperheads (18-15) pulled out an 11-2 victory over the Scouts (17-17).

The leader in that performance was Jared Heard, who went 3-4 with a double, three RBIs, three runs scored and a walk. 

Heard said that following the rough games the team had against the Joes with a strong performance shows that Southern Ohio is a team full of fighters.

“We can bypass the games we do bad on and find a way to win the next one,” he said.

The offense was helped by the fact that Southern Ohio was putting its ace out on the mound on Friday in Zach Iverson. Iverson went seven innings and only gave up one run on eight hits while striking out four.

Coach Austin Dunfee praised Iverson for being versatile, finding ways to get batters out without having his go-to strikeout pitches working.

“That’s what shows a good pitcher,” Dunfee said. “When you don’t have your best stuff on any given day, but you still compete in the strike zone and find a way to get guys out when you don’t have that electric fastball (and) breaking ball that you’re used to having.”

The Copperheads got on the board quickly in the bottom of the second thanks to a Tanner Glass RBI single and a Daniel Cruz sacrifice fly. 

A Heard RBI single in the third and a Kyle Gammon sacrifice fly in the fourth made it 4-0 quickly. Southern Ohio didn’t let up, adding three in the sixth to make it a 7-0 game. 

Xenia added one in the seventh and one in the eighth to make in 7-2, but the Copperheads exploded in the bottom of the eighth for four runs to shut the door and secure the victory.

Southern Ohio looks to keep the mentality for Friday’s win and carry it as the team continues its playoff push. The Copperheads play the Scouts again on Saturday, with first pitch at Bob Wren scheduled for 7:05 p.m.