SBC River tilt suspended with H-L leading Calvert 6-3

Mother Nature certainly has a way of making a mess of things.In the bottom of the sixth inning, there was a meeting called at home plate between coaches and umpires before Calvert could warm up to pitch.With lightning in the distance and darkness approaching, the game between rivals Calvert and Hopewell-Loudon was suspended on Tuesday at Zip Zalar Field in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division play."I thought we had a good approach both offensively and defensively," Chieftains coach Brock Bell said. "We were just attacking the ball and had a couple of crucial hits there that allowed us to take the lead."Before the suspension, H-L (6-4, 3-1) was leading 6-3. Brody Brickman smacked a single out towards second base, and then stole second base when Jacoby Ellis was at-bat.Reiyc Hoover drove in two on his line drive, making it 5-3.After a Calvert error, Collin Smith smacked a ground ball and chased in Shawn Pierce, making it 6-3.The Senecas (6-0, 4-0) struggled to get out of the gate, and didn't have three runs until the bottom of the fifth, tying the game 3-3."We didn't quite break it but we came back and fought," Calvert coach Matt Coleman said. "We fought to get it back to even. We left some balls out there but overall they are a good hitting team and an athletic team. Kellen Frankart hit a nice changeup in pitching to get things going there."With one out, AJ Shoemaker was at-bat. He whacked a ground ball to Frankart, which drove in Logan Ritzler.Charlie Palm had a two-RBI double as he lined the ball to the left field fence that drove in Vincenzo Lyons and Shoemaker.Frankart struck out Connor Moyer and Tucker Coleman popped out to Frankart in foul territory to keep the contest tied at 3."Kellen has been commanding the ball and the game this season," said Bell of the pitcher. "His pitches are working. When he has a lot of movement on his pitches, it makes it hard for them to make contact. We will take it but they are a solid team, but they had a better approach the second and third time through the lineup. We just had to keep battling there."Both teams were scoreless for two innings. H-L got the first run of the game in the top of the third inning when Frankart drove in Jack Colatruglio on a single.The Chieftains got two more runs in the top of the fourth inning.Braylon Ramirez got an RBI after he doubled to left field which drove in Pierson Hoy.After an error, Ramirez scored a run."Braylon has been a solid bat for us," Bell said. "He has some pop in his bat and has been seeing the ball really well over the last couple of weeks."Tucker Coleman pitched five innings, had four strikeouts and gave up six runs on seven hits, four of which were earned runs and one walk with 100 pitches.Frankart allowed three runs on seven hits with two earned. He had five punchouts and allowed one walk on 86 pitches.According to OHSAA guidelines, even though it was past five innings, H-L scored three runs in top of the sixth, but the inning was ruled incomplete as Calvert didn't get a chance to bat, so the game isn't completed officially.As to when the game will be finished, that is a whole different matter. The Senecas are scheduled to play one more conference game this week."We don't know when we will be able to finish it but we play them again next week at their place," coach Coleman said. "We have other games too. We will take a look and see when we will get a chance to finish out this game and play the next."