By Dan Messerschmidt
CCN Sports Director

NEW WASHINGTON — Scoring, especially early in games, has been as struggle for Bucyrus baseball all year.

It was not a problem Wednesday. The Redmen scored two unearned runs in the first inning and added five more runs in the second in support of pitcher Ben Seibert’s complete game to defeat Buckeye Central, 9-2, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference contest.

“Inning No. 1 has been our lowest (scoring) inning of the year so far,” Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said. “Last year and the year before, it was one of the top innings. We had only scored three runs in the first inning (before tonight).”

The first inning jump-started the Bucyrus (6-8, 3-6 N10) offense. But it also knocked Bucks’ starter Brady Biglin off his game.

After an error led to the two unearned runs in the first, Biglin couldn’t find the plate in the second inning, walking two and hitting a batter.

The Redmen made him pay with two hits, one a single by Ryan Evans that drove in a run.  But the big blow was a bases-loaded double by Lucas Kozinski that brought in three.

“We had to get ahead with strikes and we couldn’t,” Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said. “Bucyrus hung in there and got the bat on the ball. Credit to them, they found the holes. They really only hit one ball hard, the basses-clearing double.”

Buckeye Central (5-11, 2-8) scored a run in the first. Josh Dentinger and Payton Phenicie each singled with one out. Kyle Sanderson was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Dentinger came home on an error.

But Seibert pitched out of the jam with a strike out and a fly to right field, stranding three Bucks’ runners. From there, Seibert cruised. The sophomore right-hander limited the Bucks to six hits, recording four strikeouts while walking four and hitting a batter.

“Lucas came through for us with a two-out hit,” Maudsley said. “He came up with the bases loaded. That’s his job, to drive in runs.”

Biglin lasted until the fourth inning. He surrendered nine runs — seven earned — with five strikeouts, three walks and a hit batter. Matthew Summers finished up, allowing only two hits with one strikeout and no bases on balls.

“Brady’s a good pitcher, he just got off to a rough start,” Jensen said. “I kept him out there to see how he would respond and he battled. He didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he competed.”

Jaylen Zehner, Evans, Seibert and Kozinski each had two hits for the Redmen. Tod Spurlock also singled. Kozinski drove in five runs and Evans scored three times.

“One of our downfalls all year has been leaving guys on base,” Maudsley said. “It’s good to see somebody come through for us. All our preaching, all our teaching, all our coaching is finally paying off.”

Bucyrus left only five runners on base. Buckeye Central stranded seven.

“All year with us, we can’t put seven innings together,” Jensen said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better and improve. We can’t walk people, we can’t have errors. We have to be more consistent.”

Cody Crews doubled and Dentinger, Phenicie, Nick Ramey, Brady Kerschner and Summers singled to lead the BC offense.

“It was a very good start for us,” Maudsley said. “We’ve faced 20-23 pitchers this year and Biglin is in the top five in velocity. We hit him well and I’m very pleased with our approaches at the plate.

“You come over here and every year, they’re going to be well-coached,” Maudsley added. “They will always have some really good pitching. We’ve got to be ready for everything,”

208-530-3035

Bucyrus                  250 200 0      9     9    2

Buckeye Central   100 001 0      2     6    3

WP: Ben Seibert (4 SO, 2 W)

LP: Brady Biglin (5 SO, 3 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (B) Lucas Kozinski; (BC) Cody Crews.

Multiple hits: (B) Jaylen Zehner, Ryan Evans, Ben Seibert, Lucas Kozinski.

Records: Bucyrus 6-8 (3-6 N10); Buckeye Central 5-11 (2-8 N10).

Next: Bucyrus at Wynford, Thursday; Buckeye Central at Bucyrus, Friday.