Baseball: Nathan Othon finds redemption with clutch single, lifts Seneca past Coal City

COAL CITY – Nathan Othon was hoping for some redemption.

The Seneca senior relief pitcher dropped a pop-up in the bottom of the fifth inning Wednesday that led to three unearned runs for Coal CIty in a nonconference game. On a chilly day with the wind blowing in, runs were hard to come by, and it looked as though the three runs would be enough to send the Fighting Irish to a loss.

But Othon’s two-out RBI single in the seventh, coupled with a Coal City error, completed Seneca’s rally for a 6-5 comeback win.

Seneca (17-5) did not hang its collective head after falling behind 4-1. The Irish answered with two runs in the top of the sixth, scoring on an RBI groundout by Josh Lucas and a passed ball that allowed Chase Buis to score to make it 4-3.

Coal CIty (13-6) got what appeared to be an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Lance Cuddy drove in Cade Baldauf with a single, Cuddy’s fourth hit of the game.

Seneca got a one-out walk by leadoff hitter Paxton Giertz in the top of the seventh. An out later, Casey Clennon singled, sending GIertz to second. Buis then fouled off two pitches with two strikes before singling up the middle to score Giertz and move Clennon to second. Nathan Neal then ran for Clennon as Othon came to bat.

Othon fell behind in the count 0-2, the second straight at-bat that the Irish were down to their last strike. Othon then singled to nearly the same spot as Buis’ hit, scoring Neal with the tying run. The throw to third to try to get Buis got away, and Buis scored to make it 6-5.

Clennon came on in relief of Othon and held the Coalers scoreless to earn the save.

“That last at-bat, I just wanted to put the bat on the ball,” Othon said. “I was hoping to get some redemption after dropping the pop-up. I wanted to put the bat on the ball with two strikes, and I was able to do that.

“This team, we just do what we have to do to win. It doesn’t matter how pretty it is, as long as we get the win.”

The win was the ninth in the past 11 games for the Irish.

“Runs were hard to come by today,” Seneca coach Tim Brungard said. “Kudos to Coal City’s starter [Gabe McHugh]. He kept us off-balance and threw a lot of strikes.

“Our guys never gave up and kept scratching away. Paxton kept us in it, and we got a couple of big at-bats from Chase Buis and Nathan Othon. I am very proud of our guys for staying in this one the whole way.”

The first five innings was an excellent pitchers’ duel between Giertz and McHugh. Giertz allowed four hits and struck out six, while McHugh allowed one run on two hits while fanning six.

The Coalers, who saw a four-game winning streak snapped, got the game’s first run in the fourth inning. With one out, Cuddy singled and went to second on a passed ball before scoring on a two-out double by Danny Olson.

They added three runs in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. After Giertz struck out the first two hitters of the inning, McHugh walked and Othon came on to pitch as Giertz had reached his pitch limit. Cuddy greeted Othon with a single and a walk to Austin Davy loaded the bases. A pop-up in the middle of the infield was dropped by Othon, allowing McHugh to score. Criede Skubic followed with a bloop single to left that scored Cuddy and Davy for a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Olson led off with a single and Will McArdle ran for him. McArdle got to second on a wild pitch before Skubic flied to right and McArdle went to third. However, McArdle was called out for leaving second base early, and Clennon struck out AJ Wills to end the game.

“This was a good high school baseball game,” Coal City coach Greg Wills said. “Gabe threw really well for us, but he had to come out due to pitch count.

“Lance Cuddy has been swinging the bat well for us. He’s only a sophomore, but he was hurt all of last year, so this is the first year of baseball he has played since eighth grade. Give credit to Seneca. They were down to their last strike twice and put the ball in play and scored some runs. This was a tough one to lose. We just couldn’t close the door.”