By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
FAYETTE (March 28, 2024) – A wise young baseball guru once said, “When it’s cold outside, throw lots of strikes and get your team off the field.”
Pettisville’s top dog on the mound Rylan Warner did just that as he whiffed 13 Fayette batters while allowing just four hits in a 4-1 victory.
After going 0-19 in the 2023 season, the Blackbirds moved to 1-1 on the current campaign.
“I told them we are still a young team,” Blackbird coach Paul Bishop explained. “It’s a year’s growth and maturity from last year. We are faster and stronger, and we are showing progress and the improvement they need to.”
Pettisville got a big break to go on top in the first. Creighton Aeschliman walked to lead off the game and after stealing second, catcher Braxton Jacob had trouble receiving a Shane Maginn offering and then couldn’t locate it against the screen to allow Aeschliman to score all the way from second.
The Blackbirds marked two with two down in the second. A Kaleb Wyse single and a walk put runners on first and second.
A pair of passed balls scored one run and Aeschliman’s base hit brought home another for a 3-0 lead.
Fayette shaved that margin by one in their half of the second. Hawk Brehm and Gavin Figgins singled around a walk and Warner plunked Zach Oehlers with a pitch to bring home Fayette’s only tally of the day.
After that, Warner allowed just two hits the rest of the day and struck out nine more Eagles.
“He has been that way for us,” Bishop said. “He is obviously our number one. He just competed the whole time.”
Maginn probably deserved better as the senior righty locked down the Blackbirds the next three innings, giving up two hits and an unearned run in the fifth that scored thanks to a pair of Eagle miscues in the field.
On the contrary, the Blackbirds committed just a single error, a vast improvement from the defensive play of a year ago according to Bishop.
“We just made that one error, last year it would’ve been five and again it’s the difference between a year. They are older, more experienced and they are growing.”
“This still is a good steppingstone for us to continue hopefully with this momentum and play well. We need to put together a whole game and I think we did that tonight.”
PETTISVILLE 120 010 0 – 4 6 1
FAYETTE 010 000 0 – 1 4 3
Records: Pettisville 1-1, Fayette 0-1
WINNING PITCHER: Warner (7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned, 13 strikeouts, 3 walks)
LOSING PITCHER: Maginn (5 innings, 5 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks) Other: Mitchell
LEADING HITTERS: (Pettisville) Bishop – double; Warner – double; (Fayette) Maginn – 2 singles
