Celina, Coldwater and Minster still alive

By GARY R. RASBERRY and MARK RUSCHAU
The Daily Standard

The three local ACME teams are still in contention for a trip to the state tournament after the opening weekend of the District 4 tournament being held at Celina's Montgomery Field and St. Henry's Wally Post Athletic Complex.

At Celina, Coldwater continued its dominance this season over the host Bulldogs, advancing to the Celina bracket final on Tuesday with a 13-7 win over the Bulldogs in the first game on Sunday. Celina, which is hosting the state tournament for the second straight year, will need to come out of the elimination bracket to move on with a matchup against Fort Loramie tonight at 7 p.m. The Redskins sent Shelby County rival Anna home for the summer with an 8-2 victory in the second game.

At. St. Henry, Minster got a stellar showing on the mound from Devon Poeppelman as Minster scored one in the first and nine in the fifth to defeat Van Wert 10-0 on Sunday. The Wildcats await the winner of tonight's Van Wert-Wapakoneta game. Wapak ended the run of Van Wert County champ St. John's with a 10-1 win.

Sunday's winner's bracket games
Coldwater 13, Celina 7

The two teams faced off twice in the regular season and twice more in the county sectional tournament, with the Cavaliers earning wins all four times. Celina, however, was bound and determined to send the Cavaliers to the elimination bracket, using a three-run third inning to go up 4-3.

Coldwater quickly rebounded, getting three runs off Riley Luebke in the bottom of the third to go up 6-4.

The Cavaliers added four more in the fourth and three in the fifth off Luebke and Braden Billger.

Drew Klosterman came on to pitch in the third inning in relief of Christian Schramm to get the win, going 2 1/3 innings before giving way to Matt Selhorst. Klosterman also doubled twice and drove in five runs.

"He was key for us," said Coldwater's coach Tom Brunswick of Klosterman. "He had a great day at the plate and a good day on the mound. It was important for him to go out there and put up a couple of zeros for us and gave our offense a chance to come back."

"Coldwater executed perfectly today," said Celina's coach Rob Howell. "They played, outside the two errors, a perfect game. They threw strikes, they hit when they needed to. That's what you've got to do to win at this level. Our guys played well. We stuck around and made it difficult for them."

The loss spoiled a tremendous day for Celina's catcher Cody Vogel, who doubled three times in going 4-for-4 with four RBI.

Schramm added a 2-for-4 game with four RBI for Coldwater while Alex Stammen and Jordan Klosterman collected two hits apiece.
Minster 10, Van Wert 0 (5 innings)

The Wildcats rolled to a five-inning win over the Cougars on Sunday.

Poeppelman allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out eight to pick up the complete-game win for the Wildcats, who triggered the run rule with a nine-run fifth inning.

Austin Knapke and Brandon Hoying each had doubles for the Wildcats, who knocked off both Van Wert County teams this weekend. Knapke added three RBI with Hoying chipping in with two RBI.
Sunday's elimination bracket games
Fort Loramie 8, Anna 2

The Redskins bounced back from Saturday's loss to Celina. After allowing the Rockets two runs in the top of the first, Fort Loramie scored three in the second and four more in the fourth to pull away for the win.

Jared Albers picked up the win and added a triple at the plate for the Redskins.

Fort Loramie had just eight hits in the game, but were helped by Rocket pitchers combining for seven walks.
Wapakoneta 10, St. John's 1

The top seed from Auglaize County bounced back from Saturday's loss to send the Blue Jays home for the summer. Wapak scored four in the bottom of the first and two more each in the second, fourth and sixth innings.

Marshall Gerlach fired a complete game five-hitter for Wapak and struck out seven while walking one.

Chandler Kaeck went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three RBI for the Redskins.
SATURDAY
At Celina
Coldwater 10, Anna 2

Eric Schmackers struck out 11 and scattered seven hits as the Cavaliers pulled away with four runs in the sixth inning.

The Cavaliers led 3-0 after the second inning and added a run in the third and two in the fourth before getting four in their final at-bat. In the sixth frame, Drew Klosterman had a two-run single, Christian Schramm had an RBI double and Schmackers helped his own cause with an RBI double.

Randal Muhlenkamp went 4-for-4 from the leadoff spot for the Cavs and scored three times. Jordan Klosterman and Christian Schramm each had two hits with Drew Klosterman driving in three runs.
Celina 4, Fort Loramie 1

The Bulldogs' Kyle Berry kept the Redskins scoreless until an error led to Fort Loramie's lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Berry walked just one and allowed four hits.

The Bulldogs got two in the top of the first as Cody Vogel's fly to right scored Derek Waterman before Braden Billger came home on an errant throw to second base.

Vogel drove in another run in the third with a single to score Nate Mestemaker, with the final run coming in the seventh when Skylar McCarter scored on an error.

Waterman had two of Celina's four hits.
SATURDAY
At St. Henry
Minster 10, St. John's 4

Minster used a huge seventh inning by sending 10 batters to the plate and scored six times to break a 4-4 tie. Rob Wente started Minster's rally with a single but was forced out at second base by Drew Elson. Ethan Wolf singled and Andrew Knapke walked to load the bases.

The Wildcats' number-nine hitter Jay Eilerman then hit a bloop single down the right-field line to make the score 5-4 and Devon Poeppelman drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-4. After a walk to Austin Knapke, Minster's seniors Ryan Hoying and Doug Huber came through with big hits as they each drove in a pair of runs with doubles.

"We talked about this very thing before the game, coming up with hits in big situations and it took us to the seventh inning to do it but we were able to come through when we needed to," said Minster's coach Scott Sherman. "In the seventh inning we were finally able to put some hits together and Ryan Hoying and Doug Huber came up with big hits and that put us in good shape."

In the bottom of the seventh, St. John's put a scare into the Wildcats as the Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs. Huber induced Corey Kundert to fly to shallow left without a run scoring. Sherman then brought on Austin Knapke and he completed the game as got Isaac Klausing swinging at strike three before inducing Ryan Buescher to ground out to end the game.

The late offensive explosion rewarded a solid pitching performance by Huber, who allowed four runs on nine hits over 6 1/3 innings.

"Doug Huber did a nice job today, he was around the plate and he threw strikes," said Sherman. "Austin Knapke did a good job of closing the door in the seventh, which was what we needed from him."
Van Wert 10, Wapakoneta 8

Van Wert, which came into the game with a 6-9 record, scored 10 runs over three innings to pull the upset over the 15-2 Redskins.

Trailing 1-0, the Cougars sent 10 batters to the plate and scored seven times. The big blow of the inning was a grand slam home run by Matt Cuccuiarre.

Wapakoneta scored seven runs over the final three innings to cut the lead to 10-8, but the Cougars' Matt Williams got the final three outs to end the game.

District Schedule:
Tonight
At Celina

Celina vs. Fort Loramie, 7 p.m.
At St. Henry

Wapakoneta vs. Van Wert, 7 p.m.

Tuesday
At Celina

Coldwater vs. Celina-Fort Loramie winner, 6 p.m.-*
At St. Henry

Minster vs. Van Wert-Wapakoneta winner, 6 p.m.-*

(* - If Coldwater and/or Minster lose first game, second game will be played at approximately 8:15 p.m.)

Tuesday's winners from Celina and St. Henry will play for district championship starting Friday at St. Henry.