BUCYRUS — Two doubles — one that was hit and one that was prevented — were pivotal to the outcome of the Buckeye Central at Bucyrus baseball game.

Bucyrus’ Lucas Kozinski was involved in both. Kozinski’s two-run double in the first inning drove in two runs for the Redmen and his circus catch in left field with his back to the infield stopped what looked like a certain, run-scoring double off the bat of the Bucks’ Nick Ramey.

The pitchers’ duel that unfolded for most of the rest of the game between Bucyrus’ Trevor Ley and Buckeye Central’s Brady Biglin tipped in the Redmen’s favor as they held on for a 3-1 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory at Veterans’ Memorial Field.

“Lucas made the two biggest plays of the night,” Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said. “He had a two-out, RBI double and with runners on base, made an over-the-shoulder Mickey Mantle catch out there in left field.”

The hit came on a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the first inning. Kaden Middleton singled with one out and Ben Seibert drew a two-out walk to set the stage for Kozinski’s blow, on which Middleton and Seibert scored.

The catch was a momentum killer for the Bucks, who had already scored their first run in the fifth inning. Had Ramey’s shot gotten by Kozinski, another run would have scored, and the tying run would have been at second. Instead, the catch ended the inning.

“(Bucyrus) made some great plays defensively,” BC coach Chad Jensen said. “It wasn’t anything that we did necessarily wrong. We just couldn’t get that big hit when we needed it.”

Biglin pitched well enough to win most days, allowing only three hits, while striking out 12, walking four and hitting a batter in going the distance. But Bucyrus (7-12, 3-8 N10) made the most of its baserunners and Ley pitched around trouble to hold the Bucks at bay.

“Biglin had us off balance all night,” Maudsley said. “He was throwing two or three pitches and commanded the plate. We weren’t jumping on his fast ball; we were swinging at his curve ball.”

The Redmen scratched out their third run in the third inning without a hit. Middleton led off with a walk, advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored on a ground out by Kael Scott.

“They took advantage of a couple of walks here and there,” Jensen said. “But Brady pitched his butt off and competed like he does every week and every game. There isn’t much more we could ask out of him.”

Buckeye Central (6-14, 2-10 N10) scored its only run in the ill-fated fifth. John Wurm led off with a single and promptly stole second. Wurm moved to third on a ground ball by Biglin and scored on a single by Alex Kanney.

Other than that, Ley kept the Bucks off the board. Coming into the game second in the N10 in strikeouts, Ley had only three Ks, walked three and gave up eight hits. Buckeye Central had at least one baserunner in every inning but could not get to the Redmen’s junior righthander.

“They put the ball in play. I thought they did exactly what they had to do against Trevor,” Maudsley said. “Trevor is one of the top strikeout guys in the league and they had a good game plan coming in against him.”

“That is one of the best pitchers in the league and one of the top pitchers in our league for strikeouts,” Jensen said. “And we only struck out three times. That’s a credit to our kids, we put the ball in play.

“We did what we’ve been preaching all year — put the ball in play,” Jensen continued.

Kanney and Kaiden Vaughn led the Bucks with two hits each. Ramey, Wurm, Elliot Geissman and Brady Kerschner each singled.

Kozinski’s double and two singles by Middleton were the only Bucyrus hits. Middleton scored twice.

“Kaden Middleton did an excellent job on the bases and had a couple of nice hits for us,” Maudsley said. “When the ball was in the dirt, he was gone. He had three of those that could have been close plays. He scored twice (because of) those and that’s the difference in the game.”

“That was a very quick high school baseball game,” Jensen said. “I was proud of our kids’ effort. We’ve just got to do the little things a little bit better to be on the winning side of these.”

Box score

Buckeye Central 000 010 0    1   8    0

Bucyrus                  201 000 X    3   3    1

WP: Trevor Ley (3 SO, 3 W)

LP: Brady Biglin (12 SO, 4 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (B) Lucas Kozinski.

Multiple hits: (B) Kaden Middleton; (BC) Alex Kanney, Kaiden Vaughn.

Records: Buckeye Central 6-14 (2-10 N10); Bucyrus 7-12 (3-8 N10).

Next: Bucyrus at Buckeye Central, Wednesday; Upper Sandusky at Bucyrus, Tuesday.