Ashland coach goes home without his nose after a 14-4 season-ending loss to the Knights
No doubt you’ve heard the expression, “There’s no crying in baseball,” coined by Tom Hanks’ character Jimmy Dugan in the 1992 hit movie, A League of Their Own.
But have you heard the term, “cutting off the nose to spite the face?”
It’s used to describe a needlessly self-destructive act committed as an over-reaction to a problematic situation, and with a share of the Ohio Cardinal Conference title on the line, it’s exactly what first-year Ashland head baseball coach Rob Lavengood did when he brought the Arrows to Millersburg on Tuesday, May 24, to take on West Holmes in the season finale for both teams.
But first he cried a little bit about even having to play West Holmes on Tuesday night, petitioning OCC commissioner Ron Dessecker to move the game – originally scheduled for Monday – to Wednesday night, after the Arrows had dropped their District semifinal game against Perrysburg 1-0 on Friday, May 20 and finished 1-1 in a split-conference doubleheader Saturday, May 21, falling 14-5 against Wooster before beating the Knights 7-5.
So with another win against West Holmes guaranteeing a tie with Wooster for the conference championship and with Arrows’ number one pitcher Adam Schaly coming into Tuesday’s action with three full days rest since his last start, Lavengood chose to demonstrate his displeasure with Dessecker’s ruling by cutting off his nose to spite his face, planting Schaly at first base and bringing back number two pitcher Aric Harris to face the Knights again, on only two days rest.
Five Ashland pitchers and a short six innings later, the Arrows moped off the field after getting mercy-ruled 14-4 by the Knights, who wrapped up their season in sole possession of third-place in the OCC with a conference record of 8-6, and an overall record of 14-11, leaving Ashland in second-place, behind Wooster, at 12-2 against OCC opponents and 19-6 overall.
“We had the turnaround after a tough District semifinal loss Friday night to play a split-conference doubleheader on Saturday morning, which I really felt was putting us in an unfair situation,” explained Lavengood after watching the Knights knock Harris out of the game after only 2 and 2/3 innings, as they scored one run in the bottom of the first, three in the second, and four in the third, to take an 8-1 lead. “Then having to turn around and play again Tuesday? We were forced to play, but you play when they tell you to play I guess.”
Well, not exactly, since they were originally told to play the game Monday night.
“West Holmes’ athletic director [Todd Day] didn’t want to move it,” said Lavengood. “In fact, he was adamant about us playing Monday night and we told him there was no way we would play Monday.
“I really didn’t want to play Tuesday either,” he added, and it showed on the field despite the chatter coming from the visitors’ dugout after the Arrows fell behind early.
“We wanted to beat this team so bad because in the dugout we heard them saying, ‘This is a big game, we can’t let these guys beat us. I can’t believe these guys are beating us,’” said West Holmes third baseman Steve Thomas whose two-out RBI double to right field plated left fielder Mason James with the Knights’ eighth run in the bottom of the third.
Harris was gone after one more batter, walking West Holmes shortstop Keaton Leppla, who had scored the Knights first run, on an RBI single from starting pitcher Gabe Snyder in the first, and driven in two more runs in the second with a double to the gap between left and center.
Harris was followed to the mound by Steven Bahr, then Gabe Bradshaw, then Chad Lindskog, and then Arrows’ number three pitcher Zach Bernhard, also pitching on just two days rest while Schaly remained positioned at first base throughout the entire game.
“They were whining and crying to the commissioner and they were [upset] that we played tonight,” said second-year West Holmes head coach Kurt McDowell, who watched the Knights’ 6-foot-3-inch southpaw, Snyder, answer Lavengood’s parade of pitchers by going the distance for the home team, allowing only one earned run on eight hits, while walking one and striking out seven. “Why he didn’t throw his ace on three days rest, I don’t know. I would have for the conference championship.”
“He wasn’t available,” responded Lavengood. “He would have had to come back on three days rest and he had a sore shoulder, so we tried to use our two and three guys coming back on two days rest.
“Had they moved the game to Wednesday I would have tried [to pitch Schaly]. But the powers that be didn’t want to move the game.”
But Schaly or no Schaly, Tuesday or Wednesday, and all the whining and crying aside, the Knights continued to pound the Arrows in the fourth, tacking on their ninth run of the game when second baseman Vayden Wood drove in Garrett Mackey with his second sacrifice fly to centerfield, picking up his third RBI of the game after lacing a run-scoring single in the third as well.
They added another run in the fifth to go up 10-2 as Thomas led off the inning with a double and came home on an RBI double to the centerfield fence off the bat of centerfielder Joey Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, Snyder remained in total control, escaping a bases loaded situation in the top of the sixth by allowing only two runs, before ending the game in the bottom half by doubling into the gap in right to chase home Leppla and Gonzalez, following RBI singles from Thomas and Leppla earlier in the inning, which brought home Wood and James.
“It always feels good to get a hit when I’m pitching,” said Snyder afterward. “It helps me. We adjusted to what type of pitcher they had and just hit.
“I felt good on the mound too, throwing a lot of curveballs and keeping them off balance a little bit.”
“I think coach (Lindy) Rogers and coach (Tony) Race called a heck of a game and Gabe executed what they called,” added McDowell. “He had his curveball working and that set everything else up.
“Evidently they (Ashland) didn’t want to be here. We did. We were glad to get a nice day with sunshine and we had a good game. I was proud of the kids. We got beat in the tournament almost two weeks ago, but we didn’t pack it in. We talked about pride and working on things to get ready for next year and we did it.”
Because there’s no crying in baseball and it doesn’t make any sense to cut off your nose to spite your face.
But have you heard the term, “cutting off the nose to spite the face?”
It’s used to describe a needlessly self-destructive act committed as an over-reaction to a problematic situation, and with a share of the Ohio Cardinal Conference title on the line, it’s exactly what first-year Ashland head baseball coach Rob Lavengood did when he brought the Arrows to Millersburg on Tuesday, May 24, to take on West Holmes in the season finale for both teams.
But first he cried a little bit about even having to play West Holmes on Tuesday night, petitioning OCC commissioner Ron Dessecker to move the game – originally scheduled for Monday – to Wednesday night, after the Arrows had dropped their District semifinal game against Perrysburg 1-0 on Friday, May 20 and finished 1-1 in a split-conference doubleheader Saturday, May 21, falling 14-5 against Wooster before beating the Knights 7-5.
So with another win against West Holmes guaranteeing a tie with Wooster for the conference championship and with Arrows’ number one pitcher Adam Schaly coming into Tuesday’s action with three full days rest since his last start, Lavengood chose to demonstrate his displeasure with Dessecker’s ruling by cutting off his nose to spite his face, planting Schaly at first base and bringing back number two pitcher Aric Harris to face the Knights again, on only two days rest.
Five Ashland pitchers and a short six innings later, the Arrows moped off the field after getting mercy-ruled 14-4 by the Knights, who wrapped up their season in sole possession of third-place in the OCC with a conference record of 8-6, and an overall record of 14-11, leaving Ashland in second-place, behind Wooster, at 12-2 against OCC opponents and 19-6 overall.
“We had the turnaround after a tough District semifinal loss Friday night to play a split-conference doubleheader on Saturday morning, which I really felt was putting us in an unfair situation,” explained Lavengood after watching the Knights knock Harris out of the game after only 2 and 2/3 innings, as they scored one run in the bottom of the first, three in the second, and four in the third, to take an 8-1 lead. “Then having to turn around and play again Tuesday? We were forced to play, but you play when they tell you to play I guess.”
Well, not exactly, since they were originally told to play the game Monday night.
“West Holmes’ athletic director [Todd Day] didn’t want to move it,” said Lavengood. “In fact, he was adamant about us playing Monday night and we told him there was no way we would play Monday.
“I really didn’t want to play Tuesday either,” he added, and it showed on the field despite the chatter coming from the visitors’ dugout after the Arrows fell behind early.
“We wanted to beat this team so bad because in the dugout we heard them saying, ‘This is a big game, we can’t let these guys beat us. I can’t believe these guys are beating us,’” said West Holmes third baseman Steve Thomas whose two-out RBI double to right field plated left fielder Mason James with the Knights’ eighth run in the bottom of the third.
Harris was gone after one more batter, walking West Holmes shortstop Keaton Leppla, who had scored the Knights first run, on an RBI single from starting pitcher Gabe Snyder in the first, and driven in two more runs in the second with a double to the gap between left and center.
Harris was followed to the mound by Steven Bahr, then Gabe Bradshaw, then Chad Lindskog, and then Arrows’ number three pitcher Zach Bernhard, also pitching on just two days rest while Schaly remained positioned at first base throughout the entire game.
“They were whining and crying to the commissioner and they were [upset] that we played tonight,” said second-year West Holmes head coach Kurt McDowell, who watched the Knights’ 6-foot-3-inch southpaw, Snyder, answer Lavengood’s parade of pitchers by going the distance for the home team, allowing only one earned run on eight hits, while walking one and striking out seven. “Why he didn’t throw his ace on three days rest, I don’t know. I would have for the conference championship.”
“He wasn’t available,” responded Lavengood. “He would have had to come back on three days rest and he had a sore shoulder, so we tried to use our two and three guys coming back on two days rest.
“Had they moved the game to Wednesday I would have tried [to pitch Schaly]. But the powers that be didn’t want to move the game.”
But Schaly or no Schaly, Tuesday or Wednesday, and all the whining and crying aside, the Knights continued to pound the Arrows in the fourth, tacking on their ninth run of the game when second baseman Vayden Wood drove in Garrett Mackey with his second sacrifice fly to centerfield, picking up his third RBI of the game after lacing a run-scoring single in the third as well.
They added another run in the fifth to go up 10-2 as Thomas led off the inning with a double and came home on an RBI double to the centerfield fence off the bat of centerfielder Joey Gonzalez.
Meanwhile, Snyder remained in total control, escaping a bases loaded situation in the top of the sixth by allowing only two runs, before ending the game in the bottom half by doubling into the gap in right to chase home Leppla and Gonzalez, following RBI singles from Thomas and Leppla earlier in the inning, which brought home Wood and James.
“It always feels good to get a hit when I’m pitching,” said Snyder afterward. “It helps me. We adjusted to what type of pitcher they had and just hit.
“I felt good on the mound too, throwing a lot of curveballs and keeping them off balance a little bit.”
“I think coach (Lindy) Rogers and coach (Tony) Race called a heck of a game and Gabe executed what they called,” added McDowell. “He had his curveball working and that set everything else up.
“Evidently they (Ashland) didn’t want to be here. We did. We were glad to get a nice day with sunshine and we had a good game. I was proud of the kids. We got beat in the tournament almost two weeks ago, but we didn’t pack it in. We talked about pride and working on things to get ready for next year and we did it.”
Because there’s no crying in baseball and it doesn’t make any sense to cut off your nose to spite your face.
Published: May 24, 2011
