Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Solon had a four-game winning streak snapped with a 5-2 loss at rival Regina on Wednesday evening.

Less than 24 hours later the Spartans used some strong starting pitching to take the first steps in starting another streak.

Ty Bell and Vince Steinbrech each turned in solid starts as Class 3A ninth-ranked Solon bounced back from Wednesday’s loss with a doubleheader sweep of WAMAC rival Clear Creek Amana on Thursday in Tiffin.

Bell threw 6 2/3 strong innings in a 10-2 Spartan win in the opener and Steinbrech threw a complete game as Solon won the nightcap 9-3 to improve to 23-10 on the season.

“We talked about it last night after the game and we knew we could bounce back right away,” Steinbrech said. “We came into tonight ready.”

Bell set the tone early on Thursday.

The junior right-hander allowed just two runs on five hits while striking out two and walking three and Solon played errorless defense behind him.

“We knew we needed to bounce back,” Bell said. “We had some errors last night and I’m not a guy to strike a lot of people out but I wanted to see balls put in play and I knew our guys would make plays.”

Solon broke open a scoreless game with six runs in the third inning sending 10 batters to the plate.

Nolan Seagren singled twice in the six-run third, driving in two runs and scoring a run.

“The difference tonight was I thought we really fought harder,” Solon coach Keith McSweeney said. “We didn’t have too many lazy flyballs. We put it in play, we ran the bases aggressively and we threw strikes.”

Solon jumped to a 4-0 lead in the nightcap behind two-run singles by Steinbrech and sophomore Dylan Gorham.

That was enough for Steinbrech who allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits while striking out four and walking four.

“Not every pitch was working but I made the best with what I had,” Steinbrech said. “I was going to my changeup a lot. Almost 70 percent I’d say but I went to that tonight.”

Clear Creek Amana scored single runs in the third, fifth and sixth off Steinbrech but couldn’t string together a big inning against the senior right-hander.

“Vince hit some barrels in the first inning but he adjusted,” McSweeney said. “He eliminated one of his pitches later in the game and he can do that because he has three or four that he can throw for strikes and we were able to pick it and throw it.

Clear Creek Amana had a seven-game winning streak snapped with the losses and dropped to 19-7 on the season.

With opening-round postseason wins by both teams the two rivals could meet again on July 15 in the Class 3A, Substate 4 semifinals.

“We knew we had to play hard because they are a good team and we could possibly see them in the postseason,” Steinbrech said. “We wanted to play as hard as we could see what happened.”

Game 1

Solon                                      006  000  4  –  10  7  0

Clear Creek Amana              002  000  0  –   2   5  3  

W – Tyler Bell                                    L – Robert Meade

Game 2

Solon                                      420  010  2  –  9  10  1           

Clear Creek Amana              001  011  0  –  3   6   1                       

W – Vince Steinbrech                                    L – Luke Higdon

2B – SOL: Gehrig Turner, Nolan Seagren

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