On Senior Day at Rannow Field in Athens, it was the underclassmen that stole the show and powered the Athens High School Bulldogs to a 3-2 victory over the Warren Local Warriors in game two of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
After losing game one 9-7 in extra innings, Athens was able to bounce back in game two behind the outstanding performances of sophomores Skylar Schwarzel and Alex Staron. Schwarzel made the difference at the plate while Staron was a force to be reckoned with on the mound.
As the leadoff man, Schwarzel proved to be a catalyst for the Athens offense. In the bottom of the seventh with the score tied at two, Schwarzel led off the inning with a walk. He then stole second base, and scored the game-winning run on the ensuing single by senior pinch hitter Trey Harris off of Warren reliever Austin Henthorne.
Schwarzel finished the day with three walks, two stolen bases, and two runs scored.
“[Skylar] did a really nice job in the leadoff spot,” Athens manager Fred Gibson said. “We usually use him as a DH, but we knew he could hit and we knew he had a good eye. He saw a lot of pitches today. He kept battling and fouled balls off and I thought he did a phenomenal job.”
On the mound, Staron also proved that the future of Athens baseball looks bright. He earned the win by throwing a complete game and only giving up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. The most encouraging part of Staron’s performance, however, was his ability to command all of his pitches.
Aside from an intentional walk in the seventh inning, Staron didn’t walk any of the Warren hitters.
“Alex now has two wins on the year,” Gibson said. “He picked up another win against Marietta, but what’s great about Alex is he really knows how to pitch. He gets ahead of batters and he has a really nice breaking ball and fastball.”
Staron can also thank his teammates, who provided solid defense all day. In the top of the third with a man on second and two outs, Warren second baseman Tyler Ward lined one into the left-center gap that assuredly would have gone for extra bases and scored a run, but left fielder Cody Mack sprawled out and made a diving catch to end the inning.
While Staron demonstrated precise control of his pitches, his counterpart Trip Griffin did not. Griffin had a hard time getting his breaking ball over the plate and walked five Athens batters over five innings of work. Griffin finished the day tossing five innings and giving up two runs while striking out four.
Junior Austin Howard went 2-2 with two singles and two RBIs for Athens. With two outs in the first inning, Howard dribbled a slow grounder to third that he legged out for an infield single, scoring Schwarzel.
Warren answered in the second when catcher Landon Kern hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Scotty Pettit. Athens fired right back in the third when Howard ripped a hard single down third baseline that scored second baseman Tyler Lutz.
Staron seemed to be on cruise control until surrendering a solo home run to Pettit to lead off the sixth inning, but he regained his composure to pitch a scoreless seventh and give his team a chance at victory.
Performances like those from Staron, Schwarzel, and Howard are what have Gibson excited about Athens baseball moving forward.
“Everybody who started game two will be back next year,” he said. “We thought we’d give the seniors a rest after game one and give some of the underclassmen an opportunity to play. They really stepped up and played well and I’m very excited about coaching this group of kids next year.”
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