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ATHENS, Ohio - The Locos finished off the season right by winning the GLSCL Championship over the regular season's best team, the Southern Ohio Copperheads. Lima won the first game of the three game series 9-2 at Simmons Field, then took the Championship sweep by defeating the Copperheads 2-1 at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens. It is the Locos third championship (1993, 2004) and they now take the all time lead in the GLSCL for championships, edging out Cincinnati who has two.
Game 1 at Simmons Field Southern Ohio jumped out to an early advantage by loading up the bases in the first, but the Locos would get out of the jam and take an early 1-0 lead as Connor Hudnall would hit a two out single and then come around to score as Andy Chriscaden would have a triple. Later the Copperheads would jump out to a 2-1 lead, but the Locos would come back with eight unanswered runs to win Game 1 of the Championship series 9-2.
Chriscaden led the day on batting, going 2 for 4 with a double and triple and three RBI. Will Arnold would also have a triple and an RBI. Hudnall added in two RBI as he went 2 for 4. Taylor Pickens would also tack on an RBI. Brilliant fielding and defense saved the day as well as there were several great plays by Garrett Black and Cesar Loiz throughout the playoffs.
Catlan Kendrick (5-1) had the start for the Locos and would pitch five innings. He would allow five hits with two runs, (one earned). He had one strikeout and four walks. Adam Tyson (0-1, 2 saves)would come and pitch 1.2 innings and would pick up the win, his first on the season. He allowed no runs of one hit and had two strikeouts and one walk. Travis Kottenbrock (1-0, 1 save) would have 0.1 inning of relief allowing just one hit. Taylor Braun (2-2) would close out the game with the final two innings. He would allow just two hits with no runs and three strikeouts and two walks.
The Locos would head down to Bob Wren Stadium on the campus of Ohio University in Athens for Game 2 of the Championship Series. Lima was swept in a double header down at Southern Ohio earlier in the season 6-3, 13-1. It was the only time the two teams met in the regular season. Early troubles would have the Copperheads take advantage with a 1-0 lead after one inning of play, but the Locos would strike back as in the third inning a Dustin Dunlop groundout would score Cesar Loiz to even things up at one. Then in the fifth inning, Matt Morse was at the plate to try a hit and run with Will Arnold at second and Loiz at first. However Morse would swing and miss, but Copperhead catcher Joel Fisher would try to throw out Arnold trying to get to third. The throw was a bad one however, and Arnold would score and Loiz would get to third on the error. This would give the Locos the 2-1 lead and that was all they needed to bring home their third championship.
Zach Helewski (4-2) had the start for Lima and would pitch 4.1 innings. He allowed just three hits with one earned run. He would post three strikeouts and four walks. Adam "Smooth" Clark (4-0, 5 saves) would come in to close out the game with 4.2 innings of shutout baseball. He had one strikeout and one intentional walk. He would also pick up the win.
The Locos finished the regular season with a 28-14 record and went 4-1 in the playoffs to finish 32-15 on the entire year. Lima finished the season ranked #17 in Perfect Game USA.
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