Final.

 

Cooper had a 5-run inning to take the lead in the 3rd. Big hit by Baumann.

And a couple big Conner misplays made it a 5 run inning rather than 3. You can't make errors against a solid team and expect to win.

 

And perhaps a Conner fan can tell me why the starting pitcher was removed in favor of a JV pitcher??

Blaise Ostertag (sophomore) started for Conner. I thought he was very effective when he was able to throw strikes. However, he did walk several Ryle batters. The walk and errors contributed to one bad inning for Conner which cost them this game. Ryan Gosney (sophomore) relieved Ostertag. My guess is Arlo felt this game may have been out of reach and wanted o save Smiley for the Cooper game. Cameron Ross has a sore shoulder, and Maines pitched the day before. Hence, slim pickings in the bullpen. But to your point, I think Hermann and Padgett (senior) were available. I'd say Arlo wanted to see what Gosney could potentially offer in a game that really didn't mean a whole lot big picture.

Yeah I understand what you're saying. But when the pitching change happened it was a 5-3 game. With Conner not playing again until Wednesday I would have used Hermann and/or Padgett. A win vs. Ryle would have been huge for Conner.

Yeah I understand what you're saying. But when the pitching change happened it was a 5-3 game. With Conner not playing again until Wednesday I would have used Hermann and/or Padgett. A win vs. Ryle would have been huge for Conner.

 

Good points. Still, Conner has made it to the Region 4 straight years in arguably the toughest district in the 9th. I will give Arlo the benefit of the doubt on this one. I agree, a win would have been nice. I'm guessing Arlo wants to save his "aces" vs Ryle for the seeding game and District play.

Who pitched for ryle? From the score it seemed he controlled Conners bats pretty well.

Senior lefty Tyle Mason pitched the first six innings and was relieved by Senior righty Drew Crane. I don't have the stats on either but feel Mason threw pretty well. He did have a few breaking balls that went into the dirt but IMO he looked pretty solid overall. I wouldn't say he shut Conner down by any stretch but between good defense and offense at the right time Ryle came away with the win.