Athens, OH - It was a warm and sticky night in Athens as the Graders and Copperheads faced off. Rain was supposed to shorten the evening, but the forecast ended up being wrong and making it a great night for some baseball.

The Graders were held hitless through 5 innings and in the 6th, that's when it all changed. After being down 1-0, the Graders struck for two in the top of the sixth inning. Bill Hitman had the first hit for the Graders and Tyler Pavone followed in suit with a hit of his own. This brought up a runners on first and second situation for one of the hottest hitters on the team Andrew Stone. Stone was hit by a pitch to load the bases, then Seamus Kenneally was walked to bring in the first run of the ball game for the Graders. Next, Austin Hathaway would hit a deep sac fly to center field to bring in Tyler Pavone from third making the score 2-1. It was again in the 8th inning the Graders came across an extra run. On the first pitch he saw Pavone crushed a pitch deep into left field to give the Graders a 3-1 lead.

Branden Schlick of Clarion University would get the start for your Graders. After being in some trouble in the early innings and allowing a home run in the third, he settled in and threw 7 innings of 1 run baseball. He scattered 5 hits through his seven innings of work, walked 4 and had 3 strikeouts. This would bring Stephen Norrell onto the mound in the 8th inning. He would throw a scoreless inning which opened the door for closer Andrew Stone. Stone would slam the door shut giving himself his 4th save of the young season and the Graders their 7th win!

Your Graders are back in action tonight against the Southern Ohio Copperheads at 7:05 in Athens Ohio.

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