Rob Hardin / Chief Photographer / rh124104@ohiou.edu

The Copperheads’ Taylor Hoisington runs through after fielding a ground ball Sunday against the Lima Locos.  Lima swept the double header 9-0 and 3-1 respectively.

The Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League All-Star break could not come at a better time for the Copperheads.

Southern Ohio’s opportunity to climb back into playoff contention is getting smaller, and Coach Ted Tom knows it.

“It’s good that we have a couple days off,” Tom said, “A few of our guys are banged up, and this will give us time to re-group.”

“We have a long stretch of games coming up, and if we can get hot, we can hit a good stretch of baseball and be right back in it.”

But Tom and his players know that if their play continues like it has the past two weeks, the playoffs will slowly slip out of reach.

Just a few days after the Copperheads (8-14) snapped their seven-game losing streak, they have slithered into a new one.

Southern Ohio slowly began to creep up the standings in the GLSCL with back-to-back wins Thursday and Friday before dropping five straight heading into the break.

Southern Ohio is now somewhere it hasn’t been all season: in last place. The Copperheads are nine-and-half-games back of the first-place Cincinnati Steam (21-6) and three games back of sixth-place Lake Erie (10-10).

Despite the team’s struggles, three Copperheads were named to the GLSCL All-Star team. Pitchers Chuck Boring and Joe Stover and first baseman Jake Goebbert were named to team Monday. While they were happy to make the team, they agreed that the only thing on their minds is making a run for the playoffs.

“I was very excited to see my name on the team,” Goebbert said. “It’s a good opportunity and experience and (the all-star game) should be a lot of fun. But we need to re-focus immediately after the break. We have fallen apart a little bit of late, but we can get back in the hunt with a good stretch of baseball.”

With 18 games left, there’s room to work their way back up the standings, but it must start right after the break.

Because of injuries, Southern Ohio added two infielders and an outfielder for the remainder of the season — Indiana Tech junior Chad Geier, Sinclair Community College freshman Taylor Hoisington and Ohio junior Jeremie Rehak.

Seeing the field for the first time Saturday, Hoisington and Geier showed some jitters. The two combined for three errors in the doubleheader against the first-place Cincinnati Steam (21-6), leading to 18 combined runs in which 13 of them were unearned. The fielding woes on Saturday seemed marginal to the ones displayed on Sunday.

Southern Ohio’s doubleheader at Bob Wren Stadium matched them up with the Lima Locos (14-13). The Snakes were swept after scoring only one run and committing eight combined errors, including a season high six in game one.

“When we play good defense, we have a great chance to win, and in these recent losing streaks we have been right there in almost every game, but one or two mistakes is taking us right out of them,” Tom said.

“So it’s just a matter of re-focusing,” he said. “There’s no clock in baseball like basketball or football, so we just need to stay patient, take our time and stop rushing plays.”

Beginning Friday, the team will play 10 games over the next seven days, returning home Saturday for a doubleheader against Grand Lake (10-5).