Commodores Split Opening Day DH With Allegheny County

March 2, 2024 - - The Lorain County Community College baseball team split a doubleheader against the Community College of Allegheny County Saturday afternoon at The Pipeyard in Lorain, Ohio.  LCCC lost the first game 8-5 but bounced back to take game two, 7-6, with late inning heroics and miscues by the CCAC Wildcats (2-2).

Recap

Game 1

LCCC (1-1) loaded the bases in the first and second innings but only managed to get two runs when Joey Kulwicki (Grafton, Ohio/Midview HS) scored on a fielder's choice and Joseph Mealey (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville HS) scored on a wild pitch in the next at bat.

Silas Skvor (Oberlin, Ohio/Firelands HS) worked two scoreless innings until the Wildcat bats started to heat up. In the third, CCAC plated five runs, another in the fourth, and then two more in the fifth before Caleb Shinsky (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview HS) came on in relief.  Shinsky went the rest of the way for the Commodores and held the Wildcats at bay for three innings.

LCCC scored two runs in the fourth and cut the lead in half, 8-4.  Jaden Nestor-Fox (Vermilion, Ohio/Vermilion HS) scored on a passed ball and then Hunter Cahl (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria HS) scored on a Kian Ortiz (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview HS) single.  In the bottom half of the seventh, LCCC led off with two extra base hits to get a rally going.  The first came from Kulwicki who later scored on Mealey's double in the next at bat.   The Wildcats would retire the next three batters to end the threat and take game one.

Game 2

The Commodores used late game heroics to eke out a victory against the Wildcats and get the split. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, they scored three runs which came in handy as CCAC would score twice the following inning.  Mason Shultz (Vermilion, Ohio/Vermilion HS) drove in Nestor-Fox to tie the game with a single and advanced to second on the throw home.  It set the stage for Mealey, who dropped a two-out single into no man's land just out of reach of the diving Wildcat right fielder, scoring Shultz and Cahl.

CCAC had numerous chances to end the bottom of sixth but kept allowing LCCC to stick around.  Yaniel Valentin (Lorain, Ohio/Lorain HS) made it to first when the Wildcat catcher let strike three pass to the backstop. Then the Wildcats had Nestor-Fox popped out in foul territory but the third basemen dropped the ball.  A few pitches later, Nestor-Fox hit a drive into right that was misplayed by the right fielder scoring Valentin from first.

Kulwicki, who came on in relief to close out the sixth, held off a late rally by the Wildcats who put the tying run in scoring position with one out in the seventh.  He escaped by striking out one Wildcat batter and then closed the game with a grounder to Shultz at first who stepped on the bag and delivered LCCC their first win of the season.

Notes

• LCCC played at the newly refurbished Pipeyard in Lorain, Ohio, the first of two games they will play there this season.  The next game at the Pipeyard will be on Saturday, March 23, 2024 against Cuyahoga Community College.  LCCC has nine home dates for the remainder of the 2024 season: Eight at Sports Force Parks in Sandusky and one contest at Crushers Stadium in Avon (April 9, 2024).
• The win in game 2 was Kulwicki's second in his career.  He made 3 appearances in 2023 before being sidelined in the second half of the season with an injury.
• Caleb Shinksy made his 20^th appearance in a Commodore uniform on Saturday, going three scoreless innings with a strikeout.
• Skvor struck out three in his LCCC debut.
• Cahl pitched five innings with four strikeouts allowing just one earned run.
• Five players had multi-hit games on Saturday
• Nestor-Fox went 5-for-8 in both games including three hits in game two alone.
• LCCC had nine hits in both contests
• Mealey had four RBI on the afternoon and went 4-for-7 at the plate

Next Up

LCCC will see the Wildcats again next Saturday when they travel to Monroeville, Pa. for another doubleheader starting at noon.