Van Wert edges Coldwater in marathon

COLDWATER - It was a game neither Coldwater nor Van Wert wanted to lose, even if it meant playing into the night.

Ryan Stoller's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning scored Mason Carr to allow the Van Wert Dons to win the 2015 ACME Baseball Congress state title with a 4-3 decision over the Cavaliers in front of a large crowd at Veterans Field.

The Dons, named in tribute to longtime baseball official and 2005 ACME Hall of Fame inductee Don Bachman, finish 18-2 and win the team's first ACME title since the Van Wert Bills won in 1968. Coldwater, looking for the program's first state title since 1994 and ninth in team history, finishes 18-4 and runner-up for the fourth time in the last 10 state finals and 12th time in history.

"I was thinking during the game 'It's going to be a tough one for somebody to lose and I hope it's not us,' " Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick said. "You have to give Van Wert credit. They earned it. They came up with the big hit."

"Unbelievable game," Dons coach Todd Dunlap said. "No one wants to lose and somebody's going to be heartbroken at the end. My hat's off to Coldwater. What a great team and great program. Our kids were up to the challenge today."

The way the first two innings went, the game had the makings of a slugfest. Coldwater, the visiting team on the scoreboard, scored two runs in the top of the first inning when Kyle McKibben came home on a balk from Caleb Fetzer and Jack Hemmelgarn singled in Kraig Schoenherr.

Van Wert halved the lead in the bottom of the first and chased Cav starter Dylan Thobe after just 2/3 of an inning. Hemmelgarn came on to get out of the inning, but the Dons scored twice in the second, the first on a Nick Guiterrez RBI single that scored Carr and later when Stoller stole home as part of a double steal.

The teams traded zeroes from the third to the 11th. Fetzer pitched eight innings of nine-hit, two-walk baseball with eight strikeouts. Hemmelgarn allowed just four hits and struck out four in his 7 1/3 innings as both teams went to new pitchers in the ninth.

"The pitchers settled down. I think it was the nerves coming in," Dunlap said. "Both pitchers settled down and it was a battle from then on."

Both teams had a chance to score in the fourth, but had runners gunned down at the plate. In the top of the inning, Schoenherr singled with two outs. McKibben, who was on second, rounded third and headed home, only to be thrown out by a great throw from Carr to catcher Ryan McCracken. In the bottom of the fourth, Justice Tussing reached second on an error. Carr followed with a single to center. Tussing tried to score, but Schoenherr fired a laser to Aaron Harlamert at the plate for the second out of the inning.

"They threw a guy out at the plate and Schoeny threw a guy out at the plate," Brunswick said. "There were a lot of good plays."

Ryan Stoller, who beat Bellefontaine on Saturday, came on to use his remaining three innings of work. Coldwater had runners at second and third in the 10th, but Jacob Hartings struck out to end the inning.

Harlamert, who pitched a complete game Sunday afternoon against Kalida, worked out of a ninth-inning jam thanks to Hartings, who went behind the plate with Harlamert on the mound, throwing out pinch-runner Jonathan Lee in the ninth.

In the 11th, a miscommunication denied the Cavaliers their last chance to take the lead. Chris (Petey) Post, playing first in place of the injured Malave Bettinger, reached on a one-out infield single and made it to third on a McKibben single. After Schoenherr was intentionally walked, Thobe stepped in. Post dashed home and looked to have beat the throw on the steal, but Thobe, thinking the bunt was on, tried to bunt and tapped it foul. Stoller came back to strike out Thobe to finish his three-inning effort with six strikeouts.

"I think he would have had it," Brunswick said of Post's steal try. "Dylan thought I had the bunt on. Just a little miscommunication there."

Josh Braun, whose pitching led Van Wert past Celina 2-0 in Sunday's semifinal, came on and pitched a perfect 12th. McKibben, who ended Defiance's attempt at a fourth straight ACME title on Sunday, entered in relief of Harlamert. After getting two quick outs, Carr reached on an infield single and took second on a wild pitch. Stoller stepped in and took McKibben's 2-2 offering to left. Carr dashed home and began the celebration on the Van Wert side.

"We've got a resilient group like Coldwater," Dunlap said. "Both teams hate to lose. It's a great feeling for these guys. It's been 47 years since Van Wert has done this. It's just awesome."

"(Van Wert) just persevered. It's not because our guys didn't give effort, because they gave 100 percent," Brunswick said.

"When we get together at the start of the ACME season, first thing we always tell them is to have fun. I think they had fun. Number two, they want to learn to become a better ballplayer. I think they did that (and) then came together as a team. I think we reached those three goals."

Stoller earned the state tournament's Most Valuable Player award for his play in the tournament. Teammates Carr and Braun joined Stoller on the All-Tournament Team.

Harlamert, McKibben and Hemmelgarn also made the All-Tournament Team along with Celina's Seth Lonsway and Defiance's Shay Smiddy and Abram Smith.