LIMA — Lima Central Catholic’s Travis Kottenbrock outdueled Jefferson’s Sean Fisher on a rainy Thursday night, leading to a 4-3 Northwest Conference baseball victory at Rhodes State College.

“Considering we were facing an all-state pitcher, I don’t think we did badly offensively. In fact, this was our most complete game of the season,” Jefferson coach Troy Montenery said. “We had our chances to get the win. A coach’s mistake cost us and we had a player get thrown out at the plate that would have tied it.”

Kottenbrock (1-0) went the distance, giving up seven hits and three runs (2 earned), whiffing 10 and not issuing a walk.

Fisher (1-1) also went the distance, giving up four hits and four runs (1 earned), fanning six and walking two. He hit a batter.

LCC (2-3) scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Hoffman reached on a error, then a walk and a hit batter to set up a sacrifice fly to win the game.

“We made five errors but the game was played in a steady rain. The ball was slippery and it was just tough conditions out there,” Montenery continued. “Our errors gave them some runs but they made some errors, too, that helped us, so that evened things out.”

LCC went on top in the first. Joel Stolly singled to left and Gronas reached on an error; the runners advance on wild pitch. A sacrifice bunt by Kottenbrock scored Stolly. Gavin Saine hit back to pitcher to get an out but Gronas scored for a 2-0 lead.

In the second inning, Jefferson’s Adam Kraning singled, stole second, moved to third on a grounder by Chris Wilkin and scored on a sac fly by Damon Joseph.

LCC answered in the home half as Josh Runda singled with 2 outs. He went to second on passed ball and scored on 2 consecutive errors.

In the visitors’ half of the sixth inning, Fisher singled to right, Josh Miller reached on an error (Fisher went to third) then stole second. Fisher scored on a single by Kraning. Kraning stole second. Wilkin singled to right to score Miller from third and Kraning was called out attempting to score from second.

“This is a positive to build on, despite ending up on the losing end. I felt we really came together as a team more,” Montenery added. “I felt we gained some confidence, especially at the plate. We have a game Saturday and five next week; I look for us to start clicking on all cylinders.”

Jefferson (2-3) visits Lima Temple Christian 2 p.m. Saturday

Jefferson    0 1 0     0 0 2      0 - 3   7   5

Lima CC     2 1 0     0 0 0      1 - 4   4   3