Bears pound out 26 hits, 27 runs in sweep of Tigers

NEW MANCHESTER - The Golden Bears' bats awoke from their slumber.

The Oak Glen baseball team pounded out 26 hits leading to 27 runs in a doubleheader sweep over Wellsville Saturday afternoon at the Field of Dreams Complex at Oak Glen.

Keyed by 10 hits and a combined no-hitter, the Golden Bears defeated the Tigers, 10-0, in Game 1 before pounding out 14 hits in a 17-4 victory in Game 2.

Article Photos

(ABOVE) Oak Glen’s Kyle Woodruff pitches as Wellsville’s Jake Reed takes a lead off of second base Saturday. (Photo by Aaron Petchal)

"Yeah, it was a good day," Oak Glen (5-6) head coach Lou Nagy said. "We had a lot of kids playing today. We got our pitchers rung out a little bit. That was a good thing, and we got some timely hits. We haven't been getting them. Yeah, it was a pretty good day.

"Dave is doing a good job with those guys. They are where we were five years ago. He has got a lot of good kids. Dave is a real good coach, and he is going to get those guys coming along. There is no doubt in my mind."

The learning process continues for the Tigers (0-8).

"Yes sir. Yes, it does again," Wellsville head coach David Thompson said. "We had some rough innings. We made some errors. We didn't hit the ball at all today. Oak Glen is good.

"It is damn near the same thing every game. You get going for a couple of innings. You get your three outs, and then whenever it comes time to bat the kids just have the bat on their shoulder. They are not swinging at the ball. That is all up to the kids right there. You can't coach that. Either it is in your head that you are going to swing, or you are not going to swing the bat."

Wellsville totaled just five hits in the two games. Thompson said batting is a confidence issue for his team.

"Big time. Big time confidence issue," he said. "Most of the kids are young, and whenever you are young and you see pretty good pitching, you are a little afraid. We just have to keep on cracking at it. Hopefully, we will come around."

Steve Barr and Jeff Hissam combined to pitch a no-hitter in the opener. Barr was the winning pitcher. He struck out nine and walked two in his three innings of work on the mound. Hissam pitched the final two innings. He struck out three and walked one.

"That is pretty good pitching," Nagy said. "They struck out 12 between them. You can't get better than that. They only had three walks. They did a pretty good job. That was only Jeff's second time pitching. That was the first time we hit the ball."

Offensively, Hissam was 2-for-4 with four RBI, Bub Haddox delivered two triples and catcher Kole Koper and Barr each recorded two hits and an RBI. Trey Smith and Tyler Steed each also tallied two hits in the victory.

Jarin McIntosh took the loss for the Tigers. He struck out five, walked two and he allowed nine runs on 11 hits in four innings of work. Seth Bradford recorded two outs before the Golden Bears plated their 10th run to end the game. Bradford struck out one, walked two and gave up three runs on one hit.

Oak Glen got things rolling four runs in the first inning to take the early lead. The Golden Bears added to their lead with two runs in the second and three more in the third to lead 9-0. The hosts were held scoreless in the fourth before finishing off the game in the bottom of the fifth.

Though they are two local schools, Oak Glen and Wellsville do not compete against each other in many sports.

"The thing is I know a lot of those boys over there," Nagy said. "I have known Coach Thompson since he was a little guy. Yeah, it makes it that much nicer. We had a big crowd. I think everybody had a real good time."

"It is nice to get on this field. This is the first time we have been on this field. Those were our first games here, so that was a big thing. We are happy with it, now we are going to go home and enjoy Easter."

Haddox picked up the win in the second game for the Golden Bears in relief of starter Kyle Woodruff. Haddox struck out six, walked one and allowed one run in 2.1 innings of work. Woodruff pitched the first 1.2 innings. He struck out three, walked four and he allowed three runs. Steed finished the game. He struck out two in his one inning of work.

Offensively, Smith went 3-for-4 with two triples and an RBI, Barr recorded two singles, a triple and three RBI and Haddox delivered a single, a double and two RBI. Also, Hissam had two singles and an RBI, Brandon Englehart tallied a triple and an RBI and Steed finished with two hits. Finally, Matt McLaughlin ended up with a single.

"We are getting better as the season goes along, and that is what we are shooting for, to show improvement as the year goes by," Nagy said. "We are just now starting to hit the ball. That has been our thing. We have pitched well. We have played real good defense, but we just haven't hit the ball well. Maybe, today will help."

Jake Reed took the loss for the Tigers. Reed struck out two, walked four and he allowed 12 runs on 10 hits in his three innings on the mound. Cody Barnes pitched the next 2/3 of an inning. He walked three. Geordon Roe pitched 1/3 of an inning. He walked three.

Offensively, Jason Dye delivered an double and an RBI, Reed and Barnes doubled, and McIntosh and Roe singled.

Both teams play at home Monday. Oak Glen plays Catholic Central, while Wellsville plays Lisbon.

"We have got a game on Monday, and then we play Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and then a doubleheader Saturday. We have got a chance to win every game. We have just go to come out and make it happen," Thompson said.

"I enjoy it. We picked up Southern Local on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are really just fielding a JV team. They really don't have a lot of guys out, so we are going to play some of the guys that don't normally get to play, and the seniors are going to have a couple days off.

"Monday we come back at it, and hopefully we can get some things rolling. "Hopefully, we can get a couple of wins out of that."