By Eli Halverson | July 24, 2025

The Hamilton Joes returned to the diamond Thursday night after a well-timed All-Star break, opening their final regular season series against division rival Xenia Scouts at Foundation Field. With both teams already locked into the top two spots in the GLSCL South Division—and set to meet again in the opening round of the playoffs—Thursday’s game offered a playoff preview, and Hamilton made a statement.

Reliever-turned-starter Brendan Mullin made his first start of the season and impressed over five strong innings. He allowed just one hit and one run while striking out three, giving the Joes a big lift ahead of next week’s postseason action.

The Joes' offense started rolling in the third inning. Preston Lynch opened the scoring with a double, followed by another from 2025 GLSCL All-Star Game MVP Brett Denby to bring Lynch home.

Lynch came through again in the fourth with a clutch two-out, two-run single to stretch the lead to 3-0. In the fifth, Jackson Wang crushed his third home run of the season, a two-run shot that made it 5-0 in favor of Hamilton.

Xenia got one run back in the sixth, but the Joes responded quickly. In the seventh, Denby and Travis Yankovich drew walks, and after a throwing error and wild pitch, both came around to score. Mark Nowak tacked on another with a sacrifice fly, and the eighth inning brought even more. Taking advantage of three Xenia errors and another wild pitch, Hamilton added two more runs courtesy of a Jaxson Christ RBI single and a Yankovich double, pushing the score to 10-1.

That would hold as the final. Hamilton’s bullpen—featuring Sam Pece, Dylan Kaiser, and Matty Helms—combined for four shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six to close it out.

The series continues Friday night with game two back at Foundation Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.