Strikeout No. 400 and a Barrage of Runs: Portage South Overwhelms Rays

Portage South Black Squirrels faced the Akron Rays Wednesday night at Roosevelt with starting pitcher, Jonathan Kountis, only 7 strikeouts away from 400 in his career.  Portage South came out swinging and opened a big lead in the first with 7 runs.  After Charlie Drumm and Logan Poole reached, Ty Moorhead singled to score Drumm.  Justin Nelson followed with a single to left field, scoring Poole.  Another single by Mike Darrah brought home Moorhead to go up 3-0.  Matt Dile singles to left on a hard hit ground ball that would score Nelson and Darrah.  Lucius Ivory singled to center to move Dile to second.  Both runners advanced on an error by the fielder.  Dile and Ivory would both score on two separate wild pitches to make it 7-0 after one.  PS stayed hot in the second inning, adding 8 more runs.  Nelson singled to lead off the inning and then Darrah reached on an error.  Ryan Schromm would double to left center to score Nelson and Darrah.  Dile walked and Mike Haney III singled to right, loading the bases.  Ivory would single to left to plate Schromm.  Drumm lined a single to center, scoring Dile, then Moorhead singled home Haney.  Nelson delivered a double to right center, bringing home Ivory and Drumm to make the score 14-0.  Darrah singled home Moorhead on line drive to left field.  In the fourth inning, the Black Squirrels added 2 more runs to make it 17-0.  Three straight singles load the bases and Dile grounds into a fielder's choice to score Nelson.  Haney followed with a single to right, bringing Darrah in to score.  Kountis picked up a strikeout in the fourth inning for his 400th career punchout with Portage South.  He would finished the game with 9Ks and allowing only 2 hits.  Nelson went 4-4 with 3 runs, 3 RBI and a 2B to lead the PS offense.

The Black Squirrels Sweep a Split Doubleheader

The Portage South Black Squirrels would play Sunday at Roosevelt Park in a split doubleheader with the first game against the Akron Irish and second against the Canton Outlaws.  In game one, Portage South took the early lead with a run in the first inning.  Ryan Kitay led off with a walk, then Charlie Drumm reached on a sacrifice bunt to make it first and second.  Mike Darrah moved the runners to second and third.  Justin Nelson would then score Kitay on a RBI groundout.  PS would extend the lead with 2 runs in the fifth inning.  Lucius Ivory walked and stole second.  Kitay would reach on a dropped third strike and make the turn to second to draw a throw and score Ivory with Kitay returning to first safe.  He would then steal second and score on Darrah's single.  The Black Squirrels pushed the lead to 6-0 with a 3-run frame in the sixth.  Lyndon Rainey walked to start the inning, followed by a single from Logan Poole.  Matt Dile walked to load the bases and Jason Preising would score Rainey on a sacrifice fly to center.  Ivory then doubled to left scoring Poole and Dile, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.  The Irish would get 2 runs in the top of the seventh, but would get no closer as the game finished 6-2.  Eric Schaffer threw a complete game for the win with 5 strikouts and allowing only 4 hits.  Darrah led the Portage South offense with 2 hits and a RBI.

Game two had the Canton Outlaws come into Roosevelt Park for a championship game rematch.  The Outlaws grabbed the lead early with a run in the bottom of the second.  Portage South answered back with a 3-run third.  Lyndon Rainey reached on an error and Lucius Ivory was hit by a pitch.  Ryan Kitay was then also hit by a pitch to load the bases.  Charlie Drumm hits a hard ground ball to short that scored Rainey and Ivory would come around to score on an throwing error.  Mike Darrah scored Kitay on a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 3-1.  Canton came right back in the bottom of the inning with 3 runs of their own to take the lead back, 4-3.  PS would tie the game in the fifth inning with a run.  Drumm tripled to right center and scored on a ground ball by Darrah.  The Black Squirrels took command in the sixth with a 6-run inning.  Rainey walked and Ivory was hit by a pitch again.  Kitay singled to left scoring Rainey.  Drumm singled to score Ivory and move Kitay to third.  Drumm advances to second on an error and Kitay scored.  Darrah would walk and move to second on a wild pitch.  Justin Nelson tripled to score Drum and Darrah.  Jason Priesing followed with a single to score Nelson.  The Outlaws cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth, but Portage South added 3 more runs in the top of the seventh to secure the lead at 13-7.  PS loaded the bases with 2 outs, then Matt Dile and Mike Haney III would draw RBI walks.  Preising scored the final run on a wild pitch.  Kevin Haley went 5.2 innings on the mound for the win and Kitay threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.  Drumm and Nelson each had 2 hits, a 3B and 2 RBI to lead the Black Squirrel offense.