By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Until Friday, the last time Mitchell High School had lost a Patoka Lake Athletic Conference matchup was May 1, 2020, when they were beaten by Orleans 4-1. Since then, the Bluejackets have been undefeated in the PLAC, taking the conference crown after a 6-0 season in 2021-22 and beginning this season 3-0.
That run came to an end when Mitchell was handed their second PLAC loss in nearly two years by Perry Central, 13-6.
After the Commodores scored the first two runs of the game, the Bluejackets claimed the lead in the second inning after an RBI single from Gibson Glassco and a walk drawn by Simon Gaines with the bases loaded. They’d score two more runs in the inning, one batted in on a single to right field by AJ Sarver, the other on a steal of home by Gaines as the defense threw out Sarver on an attempted steal of second base.
Now with a 4-2 lead, Mitchell found two more runs in the fifth inning thanks to a two-run hit from Bryson Zeeks, scoring Sarver and Ethan Turner, who had both reached base on walks earlier in the inning.
With just two innings remaining and a fairly comfortable lead, it was the Bluejackets’ game to lose. That was before disaster struck in the sixth.
Whether it was defensive errors leading to runs, pitching struggles or something else, things turned ugly quickly for Mitchell and didn’t soon let up, as Perry Central managed to march their way to a nine-runs in the inning. They’d add two more in the seventh, shutting out the Bluejackets and holding them scoreless to close out the game.
Mitchell head coach Jerry Chaney put it simply after the game; mistakes happen sometimes in baseball.
“We got beat by a good team in Perry Central. My kids played their hearts out. We imploded in one inning. Bad breaks happened, almost everything that could possibly go wrong. went wrong in that inning, but I’m proud of my kids. You know, we made mistakes and that’s baseball,” Chaney said. “And we had a bad inning, now my kids are down, but we’re not out. We’ve gotta realize we’re a good team and we got to beat by good team.”
Ben Seitzinger, who started the game at the mound for Mitchell, threw for five innings before he was subbed out in the sixth after four straight Commodores reached base, scoring two runs to start the inning. Seitzinger struck out 10, allowing seven hits and five earned runs before Gaines took over pitching duties in the sixth.
Gaines stepped to the mound with the bases loaded and zero outs, giving up two hits, striking one batter with a pitch and walking three as Perry Central continued to pile it on.
In five innings, Seitzinger threw 95 pitches against 25 batters. Gaines faced 16 batters, throwing 67 pitches in two innings to close.
Garrtett Scamahorn was solid at the mound for Perry, earning the win with 109 pitches thrown in almost five innings, with three hits and six earned runs allowed behind 11 Ks.
Despite the final result, Chaney was proud of his team’s effort on the night, particularly their patience at the plate, which drew them nine walks in the game.
“I thought at the plate, we took a lot of pitches. We were aggressive on the bases, we made some great plays on the bases and we had a couple of big hits. We had guys battle, we had one guy go for a nine pitch at bat at one point. And you know, we faced (Scamahorn), we did knock him out of the box because he was out of pitches. Now, were we as sharp as we could be tonight? |We weren’t. But I still think two good teams went head to head and one inning cost us. It’s just the way it is, that’s baseball,” he said.
Now 3-1 in PLAC games this season, the Bluejackets fall to a tie in second place with Orleans for the conference championship behind the Commodores, who improved to 3-0 with the win.
“We’ve got to come back and try to get second, hope for some help from some other teams. Again, Perry Central is a really good squad. (Scamahorn) was doing probably 90, I thought he did a great job keeping us off balance,” Chaney said. “We’ve got to learn from this and move on. Big games like this are going to happen. If we’re going to win a sectional, we’ve got to learn through this. Learn through the adversity, keep plugging, keep working, get better. I know it hurts tonight to the kids, but in the long run, it’ll make them stronger.”
Stats
Perry Centralmore stats
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Hubert | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Travis Kellems | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Garrett Scamahorn | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Caleb Hubert | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Cohen Edwards | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Ethan Ball | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Carter James | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Nolan Gehlhausen | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Braedon Douglas | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Dylan Lynch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Trace Knieriem | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carter Strahl | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 33 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 13 |
Batting2B: Caleb Hubert
3B: Travis Kellems
TB: Cohen Edwards, Travis Kellems 5, Carter James 3, Ethan Ball, Caleb Hubert 3, Braedon Douglas
RBI: Garrett Scamahorn 2, Nolan Gehlhausen 2, Travis Kellems, Carter James 2, Ethan Ball 2, Caleb Hubert, Chase Hubert
ROE: Garrett Scamahorn, Nolan Gehlhausen, Ethan Ball
FC: Chase Hubert
HBP: Chase Hubert
SB: Nolan Gehlhausen, Carter James
CS: Carter James
PIK: Chase Hubert
TotalsTeam QAB: 13 (31.71%)
Cohen Edwards, Garrett Scamahorn 2, Nolan Gehlhausen, Travis Kellems 2, Carter James, Ethan Ball, Caleb Hubert 2, Braedon Douglas 3
Team LOB: 7FieldingE: Caleb Hubert
Mitchellmore stats
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Gaines | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| AJ Sarver | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Ben Seitzinger | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Carsyn Herald | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ethan Turner | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kody Earl | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Bryson Zeeks | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Gibson Glassco | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ashton Luman | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Connor Teague | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aiden Premo | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 26 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 11 |
BattingTB: Simon Gaines, Gibson Glassco, Ashton Luman, AJ Sarver, Bryson Zeeks
RBI: Gibson Glassco, AJ Sarver, Bryson Zeeks 2
ROE: Simon Gaines
SB: Simon Gaines, AJ Sarver 2
CS: AJ Sarver
TotalsTeam QAB: 19 (54.29%)
Kody Earl 3, Simon Gaines 2, Gibson Glassco, Carsyn Herald, Ashton Luman 2, AJ Sarver 3, Ben Seitzinger 3, Ethan Turner 2, Bryson Zeeks 2
Team LOB: 8FieldingE: Simon Gaines, Ethan Turner 2
Perry Centralmore stats
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Scamahorn | 4.2 | 109 | .550 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| Ethan Ball | 2.1 | 46 | .522 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 7.0 | 155 | .542 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 0 |
PitchingW: Garrett Scamahorn
WP: Garrett Scamahorn 3
BK: Ethan Ball
Pitches-Strikes: Garrett Scamahorn 109-60, Ethan Ball 46-24
Groundouts-Flyouts: Garrett Scamahorn 0-3, Ethan Ball 1-6
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Garrett Scamahorn 13-24, Ethan Ball 6-11
Mitchellmore stats
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Seitzinger | 5.0 | 95 | .684 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| Simon Gaines | 2.0 | 67 | .493 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Bryson Zeeks | 0.0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 7.0 | 162 | .605 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 7 | 0 |
PitchingL: Simon Gaines
HBP: Simon Gaines
WP: Simon Gaines 2, Ben Seitzinger
Pitches-Strikes: Simon Gaines 67-33, Ben Seitzinger 95-65, Bryson Zeeks 0-0
Groundouts-Flyouts: Simon Gaines 1-0, Ben Seitzinger 2-2, Bryson Zeeks 0-0
First pitch strikes-Batters faced: Simon Gaines 8-16, Ben Seitzinger 13-25, Bryson Zeeks 0-0
