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Cincinnati Inches Closer to League Title Lima, OH – A pair of threes defeated a pair of twos on this night as the Cincinnati Steam moved one game closer to clinching the number one seed and a their first regular season league championship by defeating the Lima Locos 6-4 in a spectacular come from behind victory. The Steam trailed 4-0 before getting to starter Adam Quinn and finally defeating one of the best closers in the league. With the victory the Steam raised their record to 27-9 and remained five games ahead of second place Stark County who swept Xenia in a double header earlier in the day. Cincinnati also reduced their magic number to two games. As Lima starter Adam Quinn was holding the Steam hitless, the Locos plated two runners in the bottom of the third inning off starter David Middendorf. Middendorf was making his first appearance since have lower back problems earlier in the summer. Cincinnati can be thankful it wasn’t more than two; the Locos had two runners thrown out on the base paths. Lima’s Jeremy Jones led off with a single to center, but was erased trying to steal second for the first out of the inning. Neiko Johnson walked and was driven in on an rbi triple by Aaron Fields. With Fields on third and one out, Bryan Bonner laces a single thru the left side to score the second run of the inning for the Locos. Bonner was erased on a pickoff throw behind from catcher Billy O’Conner to Brandon Besl. Cincinnati finally broke up the no hitter in the fifth inning on a one out broken bat single to right by Brandon Besl only to be erased on a double play. The Steam threatened to dent the scoreboard in the sixth, Adam Eaton reached on a two out single to right that was misplayed allowing Eaton to reach second. Eaton was wild pitched to third and was stranded. Lima increased their lead to four in the bottom of the sixth when catcher Alex Schmid hit a two run triple to right center. Cincinnati began chipping away at the deficit in the top of the seventh when Brad Gschwind lead off the inning getting hit by pitch. Zach Hurley roped a ball down the first base line that couldn’t be handled, with Hurley racing for the second the throw from right fielder Sean Laird was airmailed past second, allowing Gschwind to score and Hurley to advance to third. Hurley scored on a double off the left field wall by Tommy Nurre cutting the Locos’ lead to 4-2. Nurre advanced to third on a ground out by Brandon Besl and scored on an rbi ground out by Billy O’Conner to get the Steam within one. Lima threatened once again in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Jorge Marban. After getting the first batter to fly out, Marban walked Neiko Johnson. Johnson was forced at second on a double play ball that misplayed by Brad Gschwind but Ryan Strausborger alertly picked it up for the out at second. With Aaron Fields at first and two outs, Steam killer Bryan Bonner ripped a single to left just off the glove of a diving Strausborger, Fields went to third and Bonner advanced to second. Cincinnati intentionally walked cleanup hitter Dan Black to load the bases for Jace Whitmer. Whitmer lined out to second to end the inning. Tommy Nurre led off the top of the ninth inning with a game tying home run to even the score at 4-4. The home run by Nurre was his league leading fifth of the season. Cincinnati continued the rally when Brandon Besl reached on a bad hop single to third. Besl advanced to second and Billy O’Conner reached first on a sacrifice bunt that was misplayed by third baseman Alex Schmid. Ryan Strausborger reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no one out. Jake Brown and Adam Eaton each struck out. Jon Edgington hit a two out, two run single up the middle to give the Steam a 6-4 lead. That would be all the Steam would need as Eric Braeckel recorded his second one-two-three inning of relief and chalked up his third victory of the season striking out three of the six batters he faced. The Steam travel to Delaware on Tuesday to face the resurgent Cows that have won nine in a row and are right on the heels of second place Stark County. While Cincinnati, Stark County and Delaware have pretty much assured themselves of a playoff spot, five teams (Columbus, Licking County, Southern Ohio, Lima and Lake Erie) are battling it out for the final three spots as the season comes down to the final week. Regular season play concludes next Sunday, August 3rd, with the playoff beginning Tuesday, August 5th at Xenia. Teams 123 456 789 R H E Steam 000 000 303 6 9 0 Locos 002 002 000 4 11 3 WP – Braeckel (3-1) LP – Burgoon (1-2)
Steam Hitting Leaders: Edgington (2 rbi), Hurley (double, rbi), Nurre
(HR, double, 2 rbi), Besl (2-4), O’Conner (rbi), Strausborger (2-4) Records: Cincinnati Steam (27-9) Lima Locos (16-18)
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