Hobbs' gem sends Indians back to regionals

COLDWATER - Saturday's Division IV district baseball title game between Minster and Fort Recovery had drama down to the final out.

Right-hander Jackson Hobbs pitched another seven-inning gem, Nick Thwaits hit an RBI single in the third and Jerry Kaup's Indians ended the season of Mike Wiss' Wildcats in the district final for the second consecutive season with a 1-0 victory at Veterans Field in Coldwater.

"We're playing teams that are in the top-tier of our league. Excellent coaching. They know us. We know them. I really and truly didn't expect anything different," said Kaup, whose squad had beat Minster 3-0 in eight innings during the regular season.

The Indians advance to the regional semifinals for the second straight season and face Ayersville at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Patrick Henry High School. The Pilots defeated Edon 7-6 to advance.

"The expectations are just to keep winning," Hobbs said. "Four more to win the whole thing, but two more just to get back to Columbus. The goal at the beginning of the year was to get back there and to eventually win it. We're right where we want to be now."

Minster was down to its final two outs in the seventh when Isaac Schmiesing singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Hobbs to put the tying runner in scoring position.

Bryce Schmiesing came to the plate with two outs to try and score his brother Isaac. After fouling off a series of pitches, he slapped a grounder down the left-field line. Minster fans cheered at what looked to be a game-tying base hit, but the home plate umpire quickly signaled that the ball had gone foul.

"According to those two guys (the umpires at home plate and third base), it is all the home plate umpire's call. That's what they said," Wiss commented. "I looked at (the third base umpire) and I said 'Can I appeal this?' He said 'It's all his call.' So I went to (the home plate umpire) and I said 'Can I appeal that?' He said 'It is all my call, but I will do you that (request) because of where we are in this game.' He made the call."

"I'm thinking the worst case scenario," Kaup said. "I know that my catcher and my pitcher both saw the home plate umpire signal foul. They didn't seem to be worried."

Bryce Schmiesing returned to the batter's box and fouled off a few more pitches to extend his marathon at-bat before Hobbs struck him out with a change-up to end the game.

"The ball bounced our way," Hobbs said. "That kid just kept battling me, though. That last at-bat was crazy. It was probably an 8-9 pitch at-bat. I just kept pounding the fastball in and the soft stuff away. I just told myself if I could throw a good change-up and get him out in front, I can get him out and I did."

"It is what it is. It's a call that you can't bring back," Wiss added. "Two-out hits win you big tournament games in close games. We had five hits and I don't know that any of them were with two outs."

Hobbs wasn't the only pitcher to give his team a championship effort. In his five innings of work, Minster starter Aaron Ernst surrendered just two third-inning singles, while striking out two and walking two. Josh Nixon replaced Ernst and threw a scoreless sixth.

"I'm very happy with Aaron Ernst's effort to start the game," Wiss said. "Happy with how he approached the game, how he handled the energy of the game. This is our second straight year of being in this game with Fort Recovery. We asked Aaron to get us four innings, two times through the order to get us back to Josh and he got us five."
  The Tribe's Ross Homan got a one-out base hit and stole second in the third, but was thrown out trying to take third on Will Homan's grounder back to the pitcher. Will Homan later stole second and scored on Thwaits single to right field.

"He's just an excellent hitter, and that's why we have him in the No. 1 spot," Kaup said. "They had moved their second baseman over to cover the base, so there was a huge hole over on the right side. The pitch was outside and he basically just slapped it the other way. Fabulous piece of hitting - it truly was. Will, with his speed, was able to come around and score."

The Wildcats left six runners on base against Hobbs, who continued to keep Minster off-balance on his way to his second complete-game of the postseason.

"Jackson is Jackson," Wiss said. "He's not going to overpower you with his fastball, but he's going to get you out in front a little bit and that's evidenced by some of the off-the-end-of-the-bat bloopers to deep infield. It's tough to square one up."

The Indians played error-free behind Hobbs. Second baseman Ben Homan recorded six putouts. Twice he robbed Josh Nixon of hits, diving to make a catch in the first and then leaping to snag Nixon's line drive to start the sixth.

"I've got to tip my cap to Ben Homan," Hobbs said. "He probably had six or seven putouts at second base. He had a great play in the first and a great play in the sixth. Those are just big outs and they're big momentum-builders because it quiets them and it get us up. It's great to trust my defense and to keep pounding the zone, throwing strikes."

The bottom of Minster's order (Ben Stubbs, Isaac Schmiesing, Jared Huelsman and Bryce Schmiesing) had four of the five hits in the game for Minster, which finishes the campaign at 18-10.

"The seven seniors are outstanding young men," Wiss said. "We've got to or were real close to 20 wins every year. I'm happy. Last year at this time, we stood here in the same place. We wanted to get back to the district final. We got ourselves there. We faced the same team. We gave a great showing. Minster knows how to play the game. We just didn't have those clutch hits at the right times."

This marked the third straight postseason shutout by the Indians' pitching staff. Hobbs had held New Bremen scoreless in a 2-0 sectional final victory and then Thwaits threw a one-hitter in a 2-0 victory over St. Henry in the district semifinal.    

"We came here to win a baseball game," Kaup said. "Jackson Hobbs took it upon his shoulders to erase our mistakes and we came out with a win. We knew it was going to be close, and we're thrilled to death."