By Jacob Cotsonika

 

Early offensive fireworks and a great start by Nolan Coil propelled Royal Oak to an 8-4 victory over Kokomo on Saturday to start the season’s final stretch.

“All we can do is continue to win ball games,” said Leprechauns head coach Jonathan Vance. “If we do that and people help us out, then hopefully we sneak in [to the playoffs].”

Royal Oak can hardly afford any losses the rest of the regular season, and would need plenty of help to reach the playoffs. Regardless, it is a quality win; the Leprechauns entered as losers of six of their last seven.  

After falling behind 8-0 after only two innings against Rockford on Friday, Royal Oak raced to a 5-0 lead after three today. 

“It was great,” Vance said. “It was huge.”

The Leprechauns roped seven hits to get their five runs in the second and third innings. George Athanasiadis opened the scoring with a two-RBI single in the second. Trae Cassidy, Lucas Rick and Michael Lareau each got an RBI in the third. 

Royal Oak’s big lead made things easier on Coil, making just his second start of the summer. 

“Run support is everything,” he said. “The more you can go out there and pitch with a little stress off your back, the better. It does a lot for your pitches.”

Coil ended up allowing just two earned runs on five hits, three walks and six strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Both runs came in the seventh frame. 

“When he does well he gets ahead early, he spins the breaking ball for strikes, and everything is belt-down,” Vance said. “When he controls his heights he’s really, really good for us.” 

The Leprechauns also had put the game essentially out of reach in the sixth. The bases had been empty with two outs, and then a Kokomo error extended the inning. Ryan McKay, Tony Hatzigeorgiou and Drew Charters each followed that up with consecutive singles to make it 8-0. 

Despite the big deficit, the Jackrabbits scratched back a bit to make things slightly interesting. Tommy Szczepanski II walked four and hit one batter in the ninth, allowing two runs to cross and bring the tying run to the plate. Owen Franklin entered, striking out the only batter he faced to end the game. 

The win gets the Leprechauns within a game of .500 on the season, and they are now 14-16 in the second half. Royal Oak will have three more games against Kokomo in the next three days. The Jackrabbits have now dropped six consecutive games.

“Same game plan as today,” Vance said. “Fill it up, and swing at pitches in the zone.”