Dush wiggles off the hook, Kobza jump starts offense

Jun. 19--Connor Dush wasn't exactly his regular dominant self on the mound Thursday night for the Columbus Cornerstone Insurance Group Seniors. But while his command left something to be desired, his ability to deliver in the clutch did not.

Dush walked six hitters, two in each of the three innings he pitched, but found a way out of the jam each time and left with a 5-0 lead that Alex Ritzorf held for a 5-2 Seniors win over Fremont First State Bank at Pawnee Park Field.

Colin Flyr put together two hits, Flyr, Tanner Kobza, Cole Wilcox and Conner Rausch each drove in a run and Cornerstone won its first game of what will be an abbreviated Legion season following months of waiting for baseball.

"It felt really good. There were some first-game jitters. I was just really excited to be out there after a whole year, playing a game," Dush said. "My pitch count was up a little more than it usually is, but I managed to get out of it. It was a lot of fun being out there."

Dush tossed 76 pitches in three innings of work with 37 balls and 39 strikes. He struck out four to go with his six walks and faced bases loaded in the first with two outs, two on and two out in the second and two on and one down in the third.

He coaxed an easy line drive to second to end his first threat, induced a ground-ball force out at third in the second stranding two and used a grounder to third and a strikeout for a scoreless third.

"I definitely focus up a little more in those situations; just kind of trust all my pitches and trust my defense behind me," Dush said. "I think sometimes I think it's just me out there, but I've got a really good defense behind me that can do some really good work like they did tonight."

Flyr came up with his two hits on a single in Cornerstone's first then another in the fifth. His first ended in Kobza coming home from first on Fremont mistakes. Flyr also put a ball in play in the second that brought in a run after an error at first.

He and Kobza set an early tone with long at bats fouling off pitches in the first inning. Kobza fought off seven straight with a full count before sending a soft single to right field. Flyr followed with another full-count at bat, fouling off a pitch then driving a liner to left.

Kobza was on the move in a hit-and-run and took third. He scored when the relay to the infield bounced away to the fence behind first base. Cole Wilcox made it 2-0 in the next at bat on a solid rope to right.

"Those top two guys, I've had them there since we started practice again," coach Cody Schilling said. It was just a matter of who we put behind them to drive them in. It's nice to have that at the top of your lineup -- guys who put the ball in play who don't strikeout a lot. That's kind of what you want, table setters."

Following nearly 40 pitches in the first, Dush came back to the mound with a lead and some breathing room.

"I love pitching with a lead because it just takes that weight off your shoulders," he said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm able to give up runs, but it definitely gives you some assurance that we have that lead and our offense can string together some runs."

Ritzdorf followed up Dush's outing with four innings, two hits, two runs, neither earned, three strikeouts and four walks. He looked to be out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fourth until an error in right. A grounder in the next at bat limited the damage to a lone run.

Ritzdorf wiped away a leadoff single in the fifth with a double play, sent a leadoff error back to the dugout in the sixth with another double play then gave up another unearned run in the seventh following two walks and a one-out error.

He stranded runners at the corners to end the game with a pop out and a strikeout looking.

Cornerstone built on it's 2-0 lead in the second with three runs following a one-out single by Cody Zrust, walk to Tyler Wessel, Rausch single, Kobza RBI ground out and Flyr's hard grounder up the right field line that ate up the first baseman.

Cornerstone is back in action on Tuesday again at home against Hastings at 7 p.m. Thursday was scheduled as a doubleheader before rain moved in after Game 1. The other three Legion city teams were in action as well but had games canceled.

"We got a game in, we won," Schilling said, "we were the lucky ones."

Nate Tenopir is the sports editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at [email protected].

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