Joes Season Ends in the South Division Championship, Lost 7-4

The Hamilton Joes are one win away from representing the South Division of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League in the championship against the winner of the North Division. They will have to go through the Grand Lake Mariners in game three to make it there.

The Joes would swing the bats early, with AJ Gundler leading off the game with a base hit. He would steal a base to get into scoring position, but that didn’t matter. Peter Heintz would tee off and hit a home run to left field to take a two-run lead early. The score would remain the same for the next few innings, with both Eli Wagner and Cournell Bennett McCoy cruising until the fifth. 

Kaden Plank would enter the game for the Mariners in relief of McCoy and would strike out the first two batters he would see. Brady Bowen would work a walk, followed by Heintz walking as well. Alex Koelling would pull a double into right field to score both Bowen and Heintz, and the Joes would have a 4-0 lead. 

Wagner would go back out in the fifth but would struggle. Huston Dunn would single to lead off the inning, and Landon Tiesing would double to score Dunn. He would be able to get Noah Drake with a strikeout, but Brandt Kendall would homer into left field to bring the Mariners within one and chase Wagner out of the game. Nik Copenhaver would enter and would give up back-to-back hits with a single from Parker Vaughn and an RBI double from CJ Filipek to tie the game at four. 

Things would keep going downhill in the bottom of the sixth with the first two Mariners hitters reaching on walks to start the inning. Both runners would advance a base due to a throwing error by the pitcher, Jacob Murphy, to put them in scoring position. Murphy would throw a wild pitch to score Marek Bolson from third, and the Mariners would take the lead. Drake would ground into a fielder's choice to score Dunn soon after. CJ Filipek would strike again later in the inning with an RBI single to bring in Kendall to take the lead, 7-4. 

Offence for the Joes would go cold, and the game would end with the Mariners winning and advancing with the final score of 7-4. This is unfortunately the end of an exciting season of Hamilton Joes baseball, with the second season in a row ending in the playoffs. The Joes will be back and ready to roll come the start of the 2027 season.