Firth fires gem in Stevenson-Carmel split
Two of the top teams in Lake County started the day undefeated and both suffered their first loss of the season.
On a sunny but cool afternoon, Stevenson baseball fans as well as major league scouts holding radar guns came out to see Clemson-bound Scott Firth pitch, and he delivered the goods by giving up only 4 hits as the Patriots shut out visiting Carmel 5-0 in the first game of a nonconference doubleheader Saturday.
In the nightcap, Carmel held on to win 6-5, despite Stevenson having the bases loaded with only one out in the seventh inning.
The split left Carmel with an 8-1 record and Stevenson with a 6-1 mark.
In the first game, Carmel's leadoff hitter Eric Stevenson singled and Firth promptly picked him off first base.
Firth (2-0) settled down after that, allowing only 3 more hits. He finished with 9 strikeouts and no walks.
He was hitting 91 mph on the radar guns. No fewer than five major-league scouts stood behind the backstop.
"My legs caught up (after the first inning) and were feeling strong," Firth said. "The one thing I was thinking about was throwing strikes. They're a good-hitting team and I just had to attack the zone and kind of let my defense behind me play for me."
Stevenson's infield had 8 groundball assists and no errors.
"All the way around - (Michael) Donavan (third base), (Kyle) Ruchim (shortstop), (Bill) Dorn (second base), and (Patrick) Wilson (first base) - they're all great defenders," Firth said. "They all have great bats, too, so I really do feel comfortable with them in the infield."
Patriots catcher Matt Geissler tipped his cap to Firth.
"Today he had amazing control and all three of his pitches were coming in for strikes," said Geissler, who went 2-for-2 with a walk. "He was hitting his spots pretty well, so it was definitely a pleasure catching him today."
Stevenson broke the ice in the third inning as Joe McWeeney reached on an error. Ruchim doubled and Geissler drove both in with a double to right.
Stevenson scored a solo run in the fourth on Pat Colbourn's RBI single. The Patriots added two more in the fifth, as Geissler and Wilson each drove in a run.
The added run support was more than enough for Firth.
"That was typical Scott getting ahead with his fastball," Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. "Carmel came out with a game plan to swing at the first-pitch fastball and Scott was able to get them out by getting ahead with his changeup and curveball. He used three pitches and was able to get the strikeouts."
Despite giving up only 5 hits, Jeff Moree suffered the loss for the Corsairs.
In the second game, Carmel was breezing along with a 6-3 lead until Stevenson took advantage of wildness and an error in the bottom of the seventh.
With one out, the Patriots' Teddy Heiser singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Jeff Ferstein walked and Alex Daar reached on a dropped flyball to load the bases.
Carmel coach Chuck Gandolfi made his second pitching change of the inning by bringing in Nick Battalini to stop the fire. Battalini started by walking Erick King to force in Heiser. Kory Cutler then walked to bring the Patriots within a run.
But Battalini got a groundball double play to end the game and record the save.
Starter Pavi Poirier won the game for the Corsairs.
"We didn't catch a flyball and we walked a couple of guys, but we got a double play at the end," Gandolfi said. "I thought Nick did a great job. He could have lost it completely but was able to come back. He needed one pitch and he made that one pitch to get the groundball."
"We hurt ourselves by making a lot of mental errors in that second game," Mazzuca said. "(Carmel) played good baseball and beat us."