High school baseball: Like a Brock ... Keystone's Miller strikes out 14 as 'Cats hand Columbia first loss

COLUMBIA STATION — Give Keystone senior Brock Miller an early lead and you're bound for trouble. That's what happened Monday to previously unbeaten Columbia in Lorain County League play. Miller carved up the Raiders during a 7-1 romp, striking out 14 on his way to his third win in as many starts. Keystone improved to 5-4, 2-0 in the LCL, while Columbia fell to 7-1, 4-1. Miller was masterful, allowing just three hits and walking only one. He mixed his speeds and used the lower outside corner effectively on Columbia's right-hand lineup. "I like that corner down there, especially with my fastball," Miller said. "I was going down there a lot. I felt pretty good. My stuff felt good. My guys felt good, the weather was amazing. "We went down to Columbus and played a bunch of good teams. We got pushed around a little bit. We didn't play as well as we wanted to play but to come up here, a big conference week, we know we gotta play with the best and I felt like we did that today." "Brock's our guy," Keystone coach Bert Fitzgerald said. "He's been with us since he's a freshman. He's a natural born leader. It was his day on the mound and he goes out there and takes it. With a lead going into the seventh, I was ready to go to somebody else but he said he's going back out there. It's his game. He's an incredible player, a great leader." Miller praised his team's offensive approach. Keystone put the ball in play and the Raiders committed three errors in a six-run third inning that was all Miller needed. "I'd say overall we don't strike out a lot," he said. "Putting the ball in play for us is huge, especially that inning where they gave us a few extra baserunners. It gets us rolling in the conference." Keystone had only five hits on the day but catcher Bowdy Todd drove in two with one of his two hits and Victor Vilchez had two singles and an RBI. Dominic Reitz doubled in a run on the Wildcats' only extra-base hit. Defensively, Keystone made the plays it had to even with Miller fanning the side in the second and seventh innings. "It's something we've been stressing," Fitzgerald said. "We've been making errors. We had seven errors over the weekend at Bloom-Carroll (tournament). We keep stressing that errors and walks by the pitchers lead to runs. That's the philosophy of a winning team and with Brock striking out a lot of guys and not allowing a lot of balls in play, it's easier on our defense." Jacob Sanders, Columbia's tough-luck losing pitcher, battled through better than five innings in spite of the tough third inning. None of the six runs he relinquished were earned. Kody Hall's first-inning double drove in the only Raiders run. "That was his best start yet," Columbia coach Dan Durante said of Sanders. "Stuff-wise, location-wise, he was on but the defense, as you get into that third inning and you unravel. That's what it is. That's what the problem was today." Unlike Keystone, Columbia didn't play much last week during all the rain and Durante said it took its toll. "Their last time on the field was last Wednesday," Durante said. "Thursday, Friday, can't play Saturday. We've got to find ways to get better defensively. If that's at a game or between innings. I'm asking them to be consistent in what's the most inconsistent sport season there is." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or at timothygeb@msn.com.