Cincinnati Steam

Lima Strikes for Six in Fourth to Down Steam

The Cincinnati Steam fell to the Lima Locos Wednesday night at Simmons Field in Lima due in large part to an offensive break-out by the Locos in the bottom of the 4th inning that saw Steam starter Reece Asbury (Miami) give up six runs, creating a deficit that Cincinnati couldn’t overcome.

The Steam jumped on the Locos in the top half of the first inning. Ryan Strausborger (Indiana State) led off the game with a double. Jon Edgington (Miami) advanced Strausborger to second with a single and Ben Thomas (Xavier) knocked Strausborger across with an RBI single. Brad Gschwind (Miami) was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases with only one out. Bobby Freking (Xavier) came through with an RBI single of his own to plate Edgington and give Cincinnati a 2-0 lead.

Lima threatened in the second and third innings, leaving runners on in scoring position, but they broke through in with a flurry in the home half of the fourth inning. Thomas Carroll (Mercer) singled into left field to start the rally. Ryan Bridges (Purdue) was hit by a Reece Asbury pitch and Daniel Jones sacrificed the runners to second and third. Chris Sosebee (Montvallo) hit a two run single, scoring Carroll and Bridges and evening the score at two. Eric Charles (Purdue) hit a two-out single to put runners on first and second. Anthony Toth (Michigan) hit a blooper down the line that appeared to be foul, but was ruled a two-run double. Steam manager Joe Regruth came out to argue, but to no avail. The Locos took the lead 4-2. J.D. Ashbrook (Morehead) and Thomas Carroll added two more RBI to extend the lead to 6-2 at the end of the 4^th inning.

Ryan Strausborger did his best to start a rally in the top of the 5^th inning with a lead-off, solo home run, but the Steam bats stalled and still trailed 6-3.

Lima tacked on one more run in both the 5^th and 6^th innings. In the 5^th, Daniel Jones singled to center and was brought home by Chris Sosebee making it 7-4 Lima. In the 6^th, Ashbrook walked and made his way to third by way of a stolen base and sacrifice fly and finally scored when a hard-hit ball bounced off Brad Gschwind’s glove and into centerfield, making the Lima lead 8-3.

The Steam inched closer in the top of the 6^th. Gschwind singled into right field and moved over to third on a Travis Shaw (Kent State) double off the wall. Trace Voshell (Ohio) brought Gschwind home, but that was all Cincinnati could muster. The Steam still trailed 8-4.

The Steam dropped to 12-9 on the year and the Locos improved to 15-4.

The Steam are back in action Thursday night at Western Hills High School against the Grand Lake Mariners. First pitch is at 7:05.