GALION, Ohio — He won’t be joining teammates Nick Riotto and Matt Sullivan in today’s Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League all-star game, but nobody in the GLSCL has been better in July than Galion reliever Brody Basilone.
A Lexington High School graduate, Basilone pitched 2.1 innings of hitless relief as the Graders completed a doubleheader sweep of Lorain County with an 8-6 win in the nightcap Monday at Heddleson Field. Galion (12-18) won the opener 5-1.
In his last six appearances, Basilone is 1-0 with two saves and a 0.00 earned run average. The right-hander has struck out seven while giving up just three hits in nine innings of work.
“Right now Brody Basilone is throwing as good as anybody in this league,” Graders manager Ray Neill said. “He did a really, really, really good job for us.”
A rising sophomore at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Basilone helped his own cause in the top of the eighth inning with the help of shortstop Kevin Shrock and first baseman J.T. Core. With men at first and third and one out, Lorain County’s Sam Kohler smacked a comebacker to Basilone, who fielded the ball and threw wide of second. Shrock snared the throw then relayed to Core, who picked Shrock’s low throw out of the dirt for an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play.
“It wasn’t textbook. As a pitcher, that is one of the hardest plays,” Basilone said. “A lot of times, you’ll think about it too much and overthrow it and that is what I almost did.
“My defense bailed me out.”
Shrock turned in a handful of highlight reel plays.
“Defensively, he was fun to watch out there tonight,” Neill said.
Comeback: The Ironmen (13-22) led 6-5 in the top of the fifth before the Graders reclaimed the lead. Austin Adams delivered a key two-out, two-run single to right to give Galion a 7-6 advantage.
“Austin Adams got a big two-out base hit for us,” Neill said. “Tonight it wasn’t necessarily the top third. … It was some other guys.”
Another Gem: Trent Downs, Galion’s game 1 starter, continued his torrid second half in the opener. The rising junior at Rio Granda scattered 10 hits in a complete game victory. The only run Downs surrendered was on a broken bat single in the top of the seventh.
In his last five starts, Downs is 3-0 with 26 strikeouts in 29.2 innings or work.
“I have confidence in my stuff,” Downs said. “Coming in here against these Division I and Division II athletes, they adjust to different pitches a little quicker than the batters I’m used to facing.
“It would have been pretty great to get the shutout, but this was one of my better starts of the season.”
Home Cooking: Galion’s Tyler Ocker had a pair of hits and drove in two runs in the opener.
“Tyler Ocker went home for a day or two and went to a family reunion,” Neill said. “Whatever kind of baked beans they had, I hope he brought some back with him because he swung the bat really good for us in that first game.”
In the Hunt: The top six teams in the GLSCL qualify for the playoffs. The Graders are in eighth place, but are just one game behind sixth-place Licking County in the loss column.
“The weather was very hard to get along with for awhile, but the guys have endured that,” Neill said. “Tonight you saw a team that is still playing hard for their teammates. I can’t ask for more than that.”
