The Galion Graders, of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, had a good crowd for a home opener, but came up short against Lorain County Ironmen by a score of 12-8 at Heise Park.
Lorain County wasted no time in putting up two runs in the first inning.
Galion responded with a run for themselves when Robert Jones crossed the plate. Jones would score again in the third inning to tie the score at two apiece.
The fourth inning was a big inning for both teams. Lorain County put up three runs in their half of the inning and Galion also scored three runs in their half with a three run homerun by Reilly Hawkins.
“Hawkins had a good game today and I commend him a lot the way he carries himself” said Galion Graders newly appointed Field Manager Taylore Baker. “He is here early and he hustles all over the field.”
Hawkins added a triple to his night in the sixth inning that scored Kevin Schrock and Riley Campbell. Hawkins scored when Robert Jones hit a single to make the score 8-6 after six innings, Graders on top.
Coach Baker said, “When you put up 8 runs you expect to win a baseball game.” Unfortunately, that was not the case as Lorain County added six runs in the next three innings to end the game with a final score of 12-8.
Galion threw out a load of pitchers for this game starting with Chris Amorosi. Following Amorosi were Xavier Harris, Kipp Brewer, Luke Schaefer, Jake Stout, and finishing with Patrick Dayton.
Coach Baker explained the reasoning for all the pitchers, “Having a bunch of pitchers you haven’t seen you want to get a better idea of what you are working with in certain situations.”
Baker continued, “These two games are learning curves for us as coaches.”
Even though the Graders came up short this evening, Coach Baker was pleased in what he saw. “A couple of our guys that came in the middle of an inning and get us a double play ball shows that we can trust them in and get big outs for the team.”
