GREENVILLE – The Greenville Green Wave varsity baseball team earned an 11-6 non-conference win over the Lima Shawnee Indians on Thursday night at Sater Heights Park.
“That’s a good team, that’s a good coach over there,” said Greenville coach Chad Henry. “We talked in the off-season a little bit — let’s make this happen. We’re in similar spots with our programs, and we wanted to make this work. That’s a good, respectable team we just played.”
Greenville wasted little time taking control, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Chilly Jasenski drew a leadoff walk, and Isaac Kerg followed with a single before Braylon Byers delivered a two-out RBI single. Ethan Jones then gave the Wave a big early lift, launching a towering three-run home run over the left field wall for a 4-0 advantage.
“When Ethan gets his bat on something like that — and we’ve talked about our approach a little bit,” Henry said. “It was nice to see him come out and put a big swing on the ball right there. He has the power; he just has to believe in himself.”
Lima Shawnee answered with three runs in the top of the third to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Greenville starter Jonathan Male struck out the final batter of the inning to preserve the lead.
The Green Wave responded in the bottom half of the third. Brody Baumann and JiJi Jim each delivered RBI singles as Greenville pushed its lead back to three runs at 6-3 after three innings.
Shawnee scratched across a run in the top of the fourth to make it 6-4, but Greenville again had an answer.
The Wave broke things open in the fifth inning, scoring three more times. Ethan Jones worked a leadoff walk, while Troy Lavy and JiJi Jim followed with back-to-back free passes. Jasenski then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score a run and make it 7-4. After Kerg drew a two-out walk to load the bases, Gibson Styer singled home a run, and Michael Fox followed with a bases-loaded walk to stretch the lead to 9-4.
Shawnee threatened again in the sixth, opening the inning with a leadoff walk, but Greenville came up with one of its biggest defensive plays of the night. After an out to center, Shawnee lined a ball to JiJi Jim, who doubled the runner off first base to end the threat.
Greenville added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Lavy and JiJi Jim again worked walks, and Jasenski delivered a two-run double to center field to extend the Wave lead to 11-4.
The Indians made one final push in the seventh, scoring twice and loading the bases, but Greenville shut the door when Korbyn Gladen popped out to second baseman JiJi Jim for the final out.
Malieki Rhoades earned the win in relief for Greenville, allowing three hits and two runs over 3 2/3 innings while striking out four and walking four. Male started and went 3.1 innings, surrendering four runs on four hits while striking out five and walking four. Male threw 61 pitches in his outing.
“We have him built up with pitch counts right there,” Henry said of Rhoades. “He shouldn’t be tired. I know he was a little bit tired, but at the bottom of the order, I thought it would be good for him to go out there and finish the work he had done. He came in in a big spot and kept us where we were.”
Greenville finished with 10 hits on the night. Jasenski and Fox each collected two hits, while Jasenski and Jones drove in three runs apiece. The Wave also showed patience at the plate, drawing nine walks, with Jim and Lavy leading the way with two each.
Greenville was aggressive on the bases as well, stealing five bags and turning one double play on defense. Both teams played clean baseball, finishing the game without committing an error.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
003 100 2 6 7 0 Lima Shawnee
402 032 X 11 10 0 Greenville
