Rain ends matchup of top area hurlers
Springboro, Beavercreek will resume playing their sectional game today in the third inning, but with different pitchers.
Friday, May 16, 2008
SPRINGBORO — Persistent rain spoiled the marquee duel between two of the area's top high school baseball pitchers.
Chuck Ghysels of Springboro and Mike Hauschild of Beavercreek are future teammates at the University of Dayton, but they were fireballing rivals Thursday, May 15, in a Dayton Division I sectional tournament game.
Extras
The umpires suspended the game in the bottom of the third with Springboro holding a 3-1 lead.
"It was a nice challenge going against Mike," Ghysels said. "We've been texting each other the last three or four days. We're decent friends.
"It's a shame we couldn't finish it out" Ghysels said. "The mound conditions were brutal, though, with the mud and moisture."
Ghysels is 7-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 41 innings while Hauschild is 5-1 with a 0.92 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 38 innings.
The game will resume today at 5 p.m. with different hurlers. Both Springboro coach Mark Pelfrey and Beavercreek coach Rick Woolf were tight-lipped about today's pitchers.
Springboro senior Robert Riley broke out of his slump (.171) on Thursday with a two-run double to put the Panthers up 3-1 in the second inning.
"First-pitch fastball and I just went with it," Riley said. "Hauschild is a hard thrower with a nasty splitter that I didn't have to see in my first at-bat."
Springboro earned a sixth-place state ranking this week on the strength of its 22-4 record and Greater Western Ohio Conference South title. Beavercreek is 14-7.
The Panthers average nearly 10 runs a game and boast a team batting average of .369. Pelfrey gave his mud-stained players the following instructions after the game was stopped: "Go home, do some laundry and come back (Friday) and finish it off."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2478 or rjackson@DaytonDailyNews.com
