Georgetown’s Connar Benjamin connects with a fastball in the G-Men’s April 13 win over Felicity-Franklin.


By Wade Linville – 

The Georgetown G-Men held on for a 6-4 league victory over the visiting Felicity-Franklin Cardinals on April 13, marking their first Southern Buckeye Athletic/Academic Conference National Division win since the season before last.
At the mound, the April 13 league contest started as a duel between two experienced senior pitchers who once competed on the same summer select baseball team in their younger years – Georgetown’s Christian Linville and Felicity-Franklin’s Dominic Ruwe.
Linville gave up one hit in the first inning, but the Cardinals were held scoreless in the top of the first with two fly-outs and a ground-out.
The G-Men came out swinging in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Georgetown junior Jonathan Strickland led off with a single and would later score.
Linville also cranked out a single in the top of the first inning.
Linville struck out three batters in the top of the second inning to hold the Cardinals run-less, and the G-Men racked up four runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-0 lead with hits coming from sophomore Peyton Penny, senior Connar Benjamin, Strickland, and sophomore Alex Bolington.
Linville returned to the mound in the top of the third inning and the Cardinals would score one run off one hit before Linville was able to strike out the fifth batter he faced in the inning to close out the side.
Linville was relieved by Strickland at the mound after three innings of pitching, finishing with four strikeouts, walking just one, and giving up three hits.
With three innings in the books, the G-Men led 5-1.
With Strickland at the mound in the top of the fourth, the Georgetown defense was able to hold the Cardinals run-less in the frame to maintain their four-run lead.
The G-Men managed to score one run in the bottom of the fourth inning as Strickland scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball off the bat of Linville to up the Georgetown lead to 6-1.
Strickland walked two batters in the top of the fifth that would both later score to cut the Georgetown lead to 6-3. The G-Men held sturdy in the field in the top of the fifth after giving up two runs.
Georgetown sophomore Blake Miles replaced Strickland at the mound in the top of the sixth inning, giving up one run in his first inning and holding the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the seventh to help the G-Men secure the two-run victory.
Ruwe gave up seven hits and four runs before being relieved at the mound.
Coming off a loss to Western Brown and two losses in a double header at Portsmouth West High School on Saturday, the G-Men suffered a 12-3 loss to the Bethel-Tate Tigers on Monday to drop to a 1-5 record in SBAAC National Division play and an overall record of 3-8.
Swinging for the only Georgetown hit in Monday’s league contest was Linville, who went one-for-three at the bat.
The G-Men were scheduled to be back in action on April 21, venturing to Felicity-Franklin High School to face the Cardinals.