Plymouth rallies past St. Paul in FC finale

PLYMOUTH — Even Plymouth head coach Jake Strayer didn't realize it.The fact remains that Plymouth sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scored six times. The Big Red did it without a base hit.Plymouth drew five walks and two hit batters in the frame and that propelled the Big Red to a 10-4 Firelands Conference win over St. Paul on Wednesday."St. Paul had some trouble throwing strikes, which they typically don't," Strayer said. "Our guys got up there and they were patient. We had a couple balls we shouldn't have swung at, but we worked at-bats and battled. Tonight the ball fell our way."Shae Sparks walked to lead off the inning for Plymouth (13-7, 9-5 FC), before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. Eli Fisher (5-2) struck out Zach Hamman and was just one pitch away from escaping the damage, but couldn't do it. Nick Roberts hit a grounder to short, but the throw to first was low and not fielded cleanly, allowing Sparks to score.Fisher then hit Zeth Goth and walked Trace McVey to load the bases. Cole Wentz was hit by a pitch to make it 6-4 and end Fisher's day.Kole Maxwell came on in relief and had just as much trouble. His wild pitch in the dirt brought in a run and a walk to Ethan Gillum re-loaded the bases. He hit Carson Tucker and walked Sparks to bring in two more runs and balloon the lead to 9-4. That ended Maxwell's outing after 16 pitches."Overall, we couldn't find the strike zone consistently enough," St. Paul coach Aaron Fries said. "We gave up too many baserunners. The big thing was and we've been successful at it all year is making teams earn things. The sixth inning was an inning where we just couldn't find the strike zone. It happens."Jaycob Stanley came in and walked Clayton Miller to make it a six-run lead. Stanley finally ended the inning when he induced a popout by Hamman.Miller finished off the complete-game performance for Plymouth. He gave up a two-out double to Ashton Stang, but it was the first hit he had allowed since the second inning. He got Stanley to line out on the infield to finish things off."Clayton is our No. 3 pitcher," Strayer said. "He would be a lot of teams' No. 1 or No. 2. He's not a pitcher. He just goes and throws and let's his defense work. He works quickly. He doesn't get too rattled too easily."St. Paul (15-7, 11-3) — ranked No. 17 in the Div. IV state poll — certainly had its chances throughout. The Flyers left 10 runners on base including eight in scoring position. St. Paul tied the game at 4 in the top half of the sixth, but missed opportunities perhaps cost the Flyers."I thought Clayton really settled down," Fries said. "He was throwing both pitches for strikes - curveballs and fastballs. He was starting a lot of our batters with curveballs and throwing it for strikes. I don't think it was anything on our batters as much as Clayton doing a really nice job."St. Paul jumped on Miller early. Fisher reached on an error before singles by Kaden Maxwell and Luke Blum loaded the bases. Plymouth committed an error on a ball hit by Kole Maxwell, scoring Fisher. A groundout by Drew Kuhnle scored a second run.The Flyers kept things going in the second. Stanley led off with a double. He went to third on a dropped third strike and scored when he beat out the throw home on a bunt by Fisher."It was an ideal situation," said Fries of the start. "Our kids came out and were attacking the baseball. They were aggressive. (Miller) was throwing strikes and we were hitting them hard. It was good to get off to a 3-0 start."The No. 24-ranked Big Red got a run back in the second on a run-scoring double by Shae Sparks. In the third, Hamman, Roberts, and Goth each singled to load the bases. McVey grounded into a fielder's choice to score a run. The throw to first sailed high, bringing in Roberts too. Later, a wild pitch from Fisher with two outs and Tucker at the plate allowed McVey to score for a 4-3 lead."St. Paul is a really, really good baseball team," Strayer said. "Fisher is a fantastic pitcher. He's a great baseball player. It was nice to get one tonight."Fisher took the loss, allowing nine runs on seven hits and five walks. He labored through 106 pitches."I probably left Eli out there too long," Fries said. "That put Kole in a tough spot. It's probably on me more than anything and my decision making. We wanted to stick with Eli. He has been a bulldog for us all year. We wanted to let him try to finish it out."Miller struck out seven in the win for Plymouth, which faces Mount Gilead on Thursday and Margaretta on Friday in non-league games."Clayton just works," Strayer said. "He puts us in some kind of position to win. As an every day shortstop and not one of our top two pitchers, that's all you can ask for."St. Paul finished the FC slate at 11-3, but now needs a lot of help to earn a share of a fifth straight conference title. South Central (15-3, 9-1) is alone in first place ahead of two head-to-head meetings with Crestview (12-7, 10-2).The Trojans also visit Mapleton (8-12, 6-7) on Thursday in a game they trail 2-1 in the fourth inning. St. Paul will need two S.C. losses and one by the Cougars to earn a title share.The Flyers will visit crosstown Norwalk next Tuesday in a non-league game. St. Paul 210 001 0 — 4 5 3Plymouth 013 006 x — 10 7 2WP: Miller; LP: Fisher (5-2)2B: (SP) Stanley, Stang; (P) Wentz, Sparks