By Eli Halverson | June 29, 2025

After a brutal loss at the hands of the Scouts on Saturday night, the Joes looked to bounce back in a massive rubber match at the halfway point of the season.

As usual, Hamilton got on the board early—taking advantage of a hit-by-pitch, a Jackson Wang single, and some wild pitching to plate two runs in the first. Marc Iozzo also made his presence felt on the basepaths, drawing a walk to lead off the second, stealing both second and third, and scoring on a Cody Miller sacrifice fly.

However, the Scouts responded quickly, turning the game into an early slugfest. Three hits and a crucial balk allowed Xenia to push across three runs, tying the game through two innings.

The Joes answered with an offensive explosion in the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Mark Nowak and Mark Rutherford set the tone, and both came around to score on an RBI hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly from Miguel Correa. Then, Travis Yankovich came up clutch, roping a two-run single to give the Joes a 7-4 lead after four innings.

A sacrifice fly from Christopher Roa in the fifth added another insurance run, extending the lead to four—but even that cushion wouldn’t hold.

Dylan Thompson got the start for Hamilton and, while not perfect, kept the Joes in a good spot, allowing four runs over four innings. But after a pitching change, the Scouts began clawing back—scoring two on a single in the fifth and another on an RBI triple in the sixth to make it a one-run game heading into the late innings.

Head Coach Aaron Brill turned to his top bullpen arm, Carson Brower, who delivered once again (3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 K). Unfortunately, a costly error allowed the tying run to score, and the game was knotted heading into extra innings.

Making matters worse, the Joes’ offense went ice cold after their early surge. They couldn’t push across another run the rest of the way, which proved costly. After ten innings, the game went to the GLSCL’s tiebreaker format. The Joes were placed on offense—meaning they needed to score or lose.

Hamilton would go down 1-2-3 in the tiebreaker 11th, sealing yet another crushing defeat as the Scouts walked away with back-to-back late comeback wins.

This one is certainly tough to swallow. Despite outscoring Xenia by nine runs across the series, the Joes drop two of three—both in heartbreaking fashion and now fall back to 2.5 games back of first place. 

Hamilton will get a much-needed day off Monday before returning to action Tuesday night at Foundation Field against the Grand Lake Mariners. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.