BEVERLY - Beverly Lowell Post 389/750 kicked off its 2012 season with a Memorial Day doubleheader at Fort Frye High School.
Unfortunately for head coach Todd Engle and his team it will not be a day they will choose to remember as Beverly/Lowell dropped both ends of the double dipper to Pickerington Post 283, 7-1 and 5-3.
The southpaw Rob Sexton fired a complete game four-hitter and fanned 11 Beverly Lowell hitters in the opener.
Both teams scored in the first inning of game one with Pickerington scoring on an infield groundout and Beverly/Lowell getting on the board when Tyler Proctor's single off the left field fence plated Eli Lenington.
A third inning two-run double by Pickerington first baseman Zach Beaver off of Beverly/Lowell starter Zach Eddy made it 3-1 and an RBI double in the fourth by Devin Fisk made it a 4-1 game.
Beverly/Lowell was having all sorts of trouble against Sexton as seven of the nine outs he recorded in the second, third and fourth inning's came via the strikeout.
Fact Box
Game One
Pickerington (Post #283) 7
Beverly Lowell (Post #389/750) 1
Pickerington 102 103 0 - 7-8-0
Beverly/Lowell 100 000 0 - 1-4-2
WP: Rob Sexton: 7IP, 4H, ER, 4BB, 11K.
LP: Zach Eddy: 6IP, 7H, 7R, 4ER, 5BB, 3K, Drew Nestor: IP, H, BB.
Top Hitters: Pickerington: Jacob Horsley 2-4, R, 2RBI, Mason McGrew: 2-3, R, Zach Beaver: 2-3, 2RBI, 2 2B, Joe Matalon: 1-2, 3R, Devin Fisk: 1-4, RBI, 2B.
Top Hitters: Beverly/Lowell: Tim Grosel: 1-3, Eli Lenington: 1-2, R, Tyler Proctor: 1-3, RBI, Clay Ullman: 1-3.
Game Two
Pickerington 5, Beverly/ Lowell 3
Pickerington 000 121 1 - 5-9-1
Beverly/Lowell 300 000 0 - 3-7-0
WP: Charlie Schmidt: 1 2/3 IP, H, BB, 3K, Kyle Goddard (Starter) 4 1/3 IP: 6H, 3ER, 4BB, 3K, Save: Daniel Sexton: IP, K.
LP: Ben Barnas: 2IP, 2H, 2ER, 5BB, Evan Sawyer (Starter) 5IP, 7H, 3ER, BB, K.
Top Hitters: Pickerington: Fisk: 3-4, R, RBI, Horsley: 3-4, 2RBI, 2B, McGrew: 1-2, 2R, 2B, Steve Huber: 1-3, R, Schmidt; 1-3, R, R. Sexton: 0-0, RBI.
Top Hitters: Beverly/Lowell: Proctor: 1-2, R, 2B, C. Ullman: 2-3, R, Gunnar Smith: 1-2, RBI, Jordan Satterfield: 1-4, RBI, Justin Futrell: 1-2, Jake Ullman: 1-3.
Singles by Lenington, Clay Ullman and Tim Grosel would be the only other hits by the Beverly/Lowell team and Pickerington scored three unearned runs off of Eddy in the sixth to provide some insurance for Sexton.
In the nightcap, Beverly/Lowell took advantage of some first-inning wildness by Pickerington starter Kyle Goddard to take the early 3-0 lead.
Grosel walked to lead off the inning and was forced out at second on Lenington's sacrifice bunt attempt.
Proctor drew a walk and Clay Ullman's single loaded the bases with just one out.
Goddard then hit both Landon Kern and Gunnar Smith with pitches to force in a pair of runs and an infield ground out by Jordan Satterfield scored the third run.
Engle turned to Marietta High School's Evan Sawyer to start game two and the left-hander kept Pickerington off the board for the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth.
With two outs Mason McGrew doubled and Jacob Horsley followed with an RBI single to cut the Beverly/Lowell lead to 3-1.
Offensively, Beverly Lowell continued to struggle as they got back-to back singles by Justin Futrell and Jake Ullman to start the fourth but failed to add to the 3-1 lead.
Pickerington began to zero in on Sawyer with one out in the fifth as three consecutive singles by Steve Huber, Charlie Schmidt, and Fisk cut the lead to 3-2.
If not for a great defensive play by Lenington at first base Pickerington may have scored a bunch more in the fifth.
With runners on the corner, Shane Snyder drilled a shot down the first-base line that Lenington made a diving stop on, tagged the bag to retire Snyder and trapped Fisk in a run down.
Fisk managed to stay in the run down long enough to allow Schmidt to score from third base to tie the score at 3-3.
Ben Barnas came on in relief for Beverly/Lowell in the sixth and had trouble finding the strike zone as he walked the bases loaded and forced in the go-ahead run when he walked Sexton.
Pickerington added a big insurance run in the top of the seventh off of Barnas when Fisk single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Snyder and scored on a Horsley single to make it 5-3.
Schmidt came on in relief for Pickerington in the fifth and started the seventh inning by walking Kern.
Pickerington head coach Chris Weber elected to replace Schmidt on the mound with Daniel Sexton and the left hander closed the deal by getting a strikeout and inducing a game ending double play.
