The Chillicothe Hornets were in Cameron Wednesday night for an MEC matchup against the Dragons on the baseball diamond. Chillicothe entered the contest 12-2 overall and 2-0 in the Midland Empire Conference with Cameron looking to play spoiler at 4-7 and 1-3 in conference.
Both starting pitchers came out strong, not allowing a baserunner in the first inning. Howie Donoho drew the start for the Hornets while Cameron sent out Gannon Hamilton. In the 2nd, Sebastian Stack starting the scoring, batting in Hudson Lodder who was walked by Donoho to start the frame. Chillicothe responded in the third, tying the game up on a Koby Wagers sacrifice fly that brought home Jack Marshall.
Knotted at 1-1 in the 4th, the Hornets were uncharacteristically lackadaisical allowing Cameron to steal home to retake the lead. Then in the 5th, Noah Rinehart lined a ball deep into right field for a triple scoring Jack Marshall easily. After Donoho pitched 3 and two thirds innings, allowing just one hit and two runs while striking out six batters, Coach Troy Figg and his staff brought in Christian Still to the mound. The Dragons managed to load the bases with just one out but Still expertly managed the situation, striking out consecutive batters to escape the jam.
After both teams went scoreless in the 6th, the Dragons placed the ball in Chase Jorgenson’s hands. Hamilton struck out 10 batters, allowed seven hits and two runs in 6 innings. Jaydin Kohl, Chillicothe’s first batter in the 7th got things started with a single, then Marshall grounded into a fielders choice before Koby Wagers connected on a double setting up the Hornets with two runners in scoring position in a tie ball game. Just like in his previous plate appearance, Noah Rinehart delivered, his ground ball driven soundly skipped away from the second baseman, scoring a pair of runs for Chillicothe.
Securing their first lead of the game, the Hornets took the field in the 7th leading 4-2. Christian Still continued his dominance on the mound striking out another pair of batters as the Dragons could not secure a baserunner in their last ditch effort. Still struck out 7 of his 13 batters faced while allowing just two hits and 0 runs. While offensively it was the 3 RBIs from Rinehart to lift the Hornets to their thirteenth victory of the season.
Chillicothe remains undefeated in the MEC at 3-0 and will face Owensville in the Wood Bat tournament on Friday in Savannah.
