Green goes to 10-0: Blevins throws shutout, Bobcats defeat Portsmouth, 1-0

Portsmouth, however, threatened in the third frame.

Following a strikeout by Blevins, a one-out single by nine-hole hitter Logan Adkins was followed by the multi-sport athlete’s successful swipe of second base. Adkins then advanced to third base on the same play following a high throw in Green’s attempt to throw Adkins out on the steal.

But the Bobcat defense stayed with matters.

On a 1-0 count, Portsmouth leadoff batter Jacob Roth laid down a bunt down the third base line — but reading the play without hesitation, third baseman Kase McIntyre successfully fielded the attempt as the sophomore fired home to Green catcher Noah McMackin.

The M&M combination successfully gunned Adkins down at home plate, and erased Portsmouth’s best threat to score in the process.

“Green defensed it well,” Duncan said. “They brought their guys in and they read the bunt and were sitting on top of it. Our runner (Adkins), seeing the third baseman come in like that, kind of froze just enough to throw him off. He’s fast, so if he goes when the ball is out of the pitcher’s hand, we probably make that play. That’s something that I talked about — it was just a matter of Green making the play and us not. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. He’s a great kid. He just had that moment where he hesitated and froze in the moment. That’s human. That’s normal.”

One batter later, Green second baseman Brennan Renison added to the excellent defense. On a pop fly that tailed off toward the shallow portion of right field, Renison made a terrific over-the-shoulder grab with his glove as both units remained in a scoreless tie after three innings of work.

“When you’re not swinging it well, you’ve got to play with the glove to stay in ballgames and have chances to win,” Shoupe said. “Those were two terrific defensive plays that gave us the opportunities to win.”

“I’ve got to trust my teammates,” Blevins said. “I’m not the fastest-throwing pitcher. I’m pretty slow in terms of my speed throwing it. I’ve just got to put the ball over the plate, trust my defense and let it do the talking. It feels awesome to have those guys behind me.”

“We had a couple of opportunities to generate runs, but we didn’t get a run on a squeeze bunt where we had an opportunity to score a run,” Duncan said. “It stinks to lose a game like that, 1-0, especially late, but we played a pretty clean game. Green played a little more disciplined than us, and that’s what won the game for them. They made a couple more plays than us, and they played a little more disciplined. That was the difference in the 1-0 game. Hat’s off to (David) Shoupe and the guys out here at Green. We’ve played them now for three or four straight years, and I don’t think they’ve beaten us until (Thursday). You can see that the kids are excited, and he has a great ballclub with a lot of seniors on his team. He’s a good friend of mine — he and his whole family — so I’m happy for him.”

For much of the rest of the distance, Blevins and Portsmouth arm Trevin Brooks dueled it out. Brooks, like Blevins, was just as impressive — firing a complete game four-hitter while striking out eight batters in his own quality outing.

As a result, the two teams’ best chances to score, from the end of the third inning through five-and-a-half frames, came on two-out singles by Green’s Conner Blanton in the fifth inning and Portsmouth’s Landon Malone in the top of the sixth. Both runners, however, were thrown out by Portsmouth catcher Jacob Roth and Green’s McMackin, keeping the game scoreless.

That changed in the bottom of the sixth.

With one out, Mason Neal drew a walk on four pitches, and Riddick Jenkins followed with a base hit where Jenkins advanced to second and Neal to third following an infield error.

This brought up Blevins with the opportunity to produce the game-winning run.

Up 1-0 in the count, Blevins self-admittedly missed a sign, which got Neal trapped in a rundown that resulted in Neal being tagged out in a rundown between third base and home.

But nobody’s flawless — and Blevins, now hitting away with two gone — atoned for his mistake immediately.

With Jenkins now at third following the rundown that got Neal tagged out, Blevins came through, poking a ball down the third base line to score Jenkins for the go-ahead run.

“I was worried in the back of my head, because I missed the sign before,” Blevins said when asked about his thought process. “I knew that I had to put the team on my back, and get the run in so we can get this victory and go 10-0. I just knew that I had to time it up and hit the ball.”

“I’m super proud of Gabe,” Shoupe said. “He came up big in the end for us. It was a fitting capper to a great ballgame.”

In the seventh inning, Portsmouth attempted to answer and got a runner on base with two gone in the seventh inning as Braxton Carr singled to right field. But Blevins worked around that single by getting two strikeouts to begin the frame and an innocent pop fly to end it.

Duncan dismissed the notion by others that two sequences where Brooks was hit by a pitch in each of his final pair of at-bats in the fourth and seventh frames but was ruled to have leaned into the pitch, therefore resulting in a strike, cost Portsmouth the game.

“In the moment, kids say things such as, ‘This call or that call,’ or, ‘Trevin got hit twice and didn’t get a base,’” Duncan said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, that didn’t lose the game for us. Neither did our runner that didn’t score on the bunt. What lost the game was, collectively, seven innings of not getting the ball in play enough to get baserunners. It wasn’t one play.’ When you’re talking to high school kids, they’re hurt after a game like this. You just try to hit the high points. I stand by that. Collectively, we should’ve done more and we didn’t, so it’s not one call or one play. Hat’s off to Green. They were the better team.”

With the triumph, Green continues to give little to no doubt as to its lofty ranking in the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association (OHSBCA) Poll. The Bobcats hosted New Boston Glenwood Friday, and for Blevins, the focus remains the same — to go 1-0 on that day.

“These are great teammates,” Blevins said. “I love them to death. We have fun playing together. It’s awesome. I always share good laughs with them off the field. It’s fun to play with them on the field. It’s just great being with these guys.”

“Feels great,” Shoupe said of the 10-0 start. “It’s surreal. The guys have put the time in, and they deserve it. They’ve earned it. Championship teams find way to win.”

As for Portsmouth, the Trojans still sit with a 6-5 overall record. The Shawnee State Athletics Hall of Famer, who has consistently had Portsmouth playing competitive baseball throughout his tenure with the Trojans, has PHS in a three-way tie with Ironton and Gallia Academy atop the OVC at 4-1.

“It’s still early in the season,” Duncan said. “We played competitive baseball against a good team. We’ll get things figured out and hopefully get ready to go. We’re still in the mix in the OVC, and the ultimate goal is to figure out the bug-a-boos you need to figure out before you get into the tournament.”