PHOTOS BY RENEA KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
CROSSING THE PLATE … Montpelier’s Jacob Lyons scores during the Locos 27-0 win at Fayette. VIEW 75 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
FAYETTE SECOND BASEMAN … Joseph Ohlemacher makes a catch for an out in Fayette’s BBC contest with Montpelier.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
FAYETTE (April 23, 2026) — Montpelier accomplished a baseball feat that is an absolute rarity.
The Locos outdid their hit total of nine against Fayette by getting popped by a pitch 11 times on their way to a 27-0 rout of the Eagles.
Fayette pitchers also walked a whopping 13 hitters, and the Eagles committed four errors to put 28 Montpelier (7-3, 4-0 BBC) players on base without getting a hit.
All of those factors added up to a 17-run Loco first inning on just four hits.
Carter Lavinder put the first four hitters of the game on by either a base on balls or hitting a batter before Kenneth Smeltzer blasted a run-scoring triple to deep center to make it 4-0.
Jaxon Stahler blooped an RBI single to right to push across a fourth run.
After Lavinder struck out CJ Fidler for the second out, the Eagles booted a ground ball, dropped a throw on a force play at second, dropped an infield pop up and had a wild pitch on strike three to extend an inning that turned into a nightmare.
In all, 13 more runs crossed the plate on just two more hits.
Kade Stewart beat out an infield hit to score a run, and Griffin Cooley added a three-run single to shallow center, another ball that easily could’ve been caught for a third out.
Four more hit batters by Wyatt Bieber, along with two more walks in the second, helped score another seven runs.
Drake Farley’s single scored one of those runs, and Stahler’s ground ball through the third baseman that was scored a hit brought in two more.
Montpelier chalked up four more runs over the next three innings against Hayden Wagner.
The Eagle freshman pitcher walked three, hit three more, gave up three hits and struck out four.
Meanwhile, four different Loco pitchers gave up just one hit, a single by Zach Oehlers in the fourth.
Hitting opposing batters also applied to Loco pitchers as well, as four Fayette (1-8, 0-5 BBC) hitters reached base in that manner.
Smeltzer had a multiple-hit game as he was hit by a pitch twice and had three hits.
Wesley Hartsock and Malachi Smeltzer also were hit by pitches twice.
MHS (17)60 22 – 27 9 0
FHS 000 00 – 0 1 4
WP- Kenneth Smeltzer (IP-1, H-0, R-0, BB-0, K-3)
LP- Carter Lavinder (IP-0.2, H-2, R-12, BB-5, K-2)
LEADING HITTERS: (Montpelier) Kenneth Smeltzer – single, double, triple, 3 RBIs; Griffin Cooley – single, double, 4 RBIs; (Fayette) Zach Oehlers – single.