It's good to be king: GCA Lions determined to sit on MOCAL throne
NEWARK ― Call it prophetic, call it divine intervention, call it what you will. But Granville Christian Academy assistant baseball coach Scott Hitchcock successfully predicted the future on Thursday.
"We were sitting in the dugout before the game, and he was telling us what he envisioned for each of us," senior Andrew Benvie said. "And he told me that I was going to get a standup triple."
Benvie hit not only one triple, but three, and also picked up the win in his first start of the season. And the Lions maintained their hold on first place in the Mid-Ohio Christian Athletic Conference with a 14-9 win against visiting Liberty Christian at Ohio State-Newark.
"The last time we won it (in 2014), my brother Jonathan was in his junior year," said Benvie, who went the first five innings, allowing seven hits and zero earned runs with six strikeouts and two walks. "Our goal every year is to win the league, but this year, it really feels like we can do it."
Junior shortstop-pitcher Bentley Johnson, who drove in three runs, said the Lions (7-3, 5-1) have a certain vibe to them.
"It's just the atmosphere of the team, our spirit," he said. "It's really gone up. When something bad happens, we don't get down and pick it right back up."
Something bad did happen after GCA built a 4-1 lead on the strength of Johnson's two-run single, an RBI hit by sophomore Josh Benvie and the first of Andrew Benvie's triples on a deep drive to left. The improving Eagles (4-7, 3-5) rallied for four unearned runs in the third to go up 5-4, thanks to three Lions' errors and a two-run single by James Rainier.
"If we have errors, we're able to put it behind us," Andrew Benvie said. "When we came back in the dugout, I didn't see anyone putting their heads down."
GCA immediately responded with two runs, keyed by freshman Josiah Green's double down the left field line, and took the lead for good. In fact, it touched off 10 unanswered runs to an insurmountable 14-5 lead.
Still nursing a 6-5 edge in the fifth, Andrew Benvie delivered an RBI triple, Johnson had a run-scoring double and the Lions took advantage of three Liberty errors, going ahead 11-5. Andrew Benvie chased home another run with his third triple and Noah Tice had an RBI single as GCA tacked on three more runs in the sixth.
Liberty did not quit. Losing pitcher Aiden Geiger and Caleb Reichert drew bases loaded walks and the Eagles scored four times in the seventh before right fielder Matthew Riedel flagged down a fly ball and threw to first for a game-ending double play.
"They (Liberty) are a good ball team," GCA head coach Roger Sprankle said. "Their record does not show how good they are. They are solid, one through nine. Normally, you can find a weak spot, but they don't have any."
Rainier, Luke Mollohan and Evan Dupler all had two hits for the Eagles.
"That's our team. A lot of fight. Our motto is to out-work everyone," said fourth-year Liberty coach Jonathan Gastaldo. "Sometimes it sustains itself to the end, sometimes it doesn't. You try to avoid that blow-up inning, and we had one today. GCA is a tough unit. They hit the ball all over the park. But we're getting better, every game. We've lost to the top four teams, but I think we're going to start beating some of them."
Green, Josh Benvie and Wesley Arnholt added two hits apiece to the winning 16-hit attack and Jake Fabbro doubled. Sprankle noted that Andrew Benvie had gotten off to a rough start this season at the plate.
"He needed a breakout game like this," Sprankle said. "He also played well the other night at Delaware (Christian) too, so he's coming around."
Johnson was almost sure that would happen.
"I've had the chance to play with him for the last three years, and he's just an athlete," Johnson said. "He had two triples in a game earlier."
Sprankle said he wasn't sure Johnson was going to be able to play Thursday.
"He was under the weather, but he toughed it out," he said. "He's so important for us, in the field, at the plate and on the mound."
The Lions lead three-time defending Madison Christian, Delaware Christian and Shekinah Christian by a game in the loss column with six left to play. A few years ago, GCA could barely field enough players for a team, but this year 18 players fill the dugout.
"We're setting a culture," Sprankle said. "We have two other excellent coaches. The thing I like is our next-pitch mentality, and we really want to win this league."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: It's good to be king: GCA Lions determined to sit on MOCAL throne
