SPRINGFIELD, OH – After a rainy and stormy week, the Champion City Kings returned home after ten days for the second half home opener. While the Kings battled and led for most of the first half of the game, the Danville Dans took the lead for good in the sixth inning and won 8-4 on a cool Friday night.
The Kings got on the board first, with an RBI Single from Ethan Krizen (North Port, FL; Tallahassee CC.) Champion City got the lead back in their share of the third, with an RBI Double from Matt Mercer (Richton, MS; Pearl River CC.) Danville tied the game up in their share of the third and fifth inning, then took the lead permanently in their sixth inning. The Kings offense would get two more runs in the final two frames, with a Nick Dolan (Pittsburgh, PA; Ohio Univ.) RBI single and another RBI from Matt Mercer. The Kings rally fell short, falling at home to Danville 8-4.
Gabe Phipps (Yorktown, IN; Land Lake College) threw a good game of 5.2 innings of work, four earned runs, six hits, three walks, four strikeouts. From the bullpen, Noah Penney (Fort Murray, Alberta, Canada; Tiffin Univ.) retired one batter in the sixth inning, but gave up two earned runs in the seventh. Trey Carter (Wheelersburg, OH; Rio Grande) went 2.2 innings, giving up two earned runs one two hits, one walk, and one strikeout. Johnathan Ray (Sylvania, OH; Tiffin Univ.) retired the only batter he faced with a punchout.
The Kings fell to 0-2 in the second half and 9-22 overall. Terre Haute travels in to Springfield for a Saturday evening game, with a scheduled start time of 6:35. For tickets, PLTV links, and more information, please check out championcitykings.com!