Hit Parade

By TOM HAINES
thaines@dailystandard.com

ST. HENRY - Every time Coldwater was poised for a run-rule win, Celina staved it off.

The Cavaliers ripped off nine runs in the top of the first, only to see the Bulldogs cut it to 9-8. The next Coldwater surge held, but after falling behind by 10 in the fifth and the sixth, Celina plated a run to extend the game.

In the end, though, the Bulldogs couldn't overcome the Coldwater barrage and succumbed to a 19-11 defeat in the final elimination game of the Mercer County ACME baseball sectional tournament at the Wally Post Athletic Complex on Tuesday night.

"Celina battled, got it to 9-8, and the game was on," Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick said. "So we had to put some more offense on there. It was one of those games that wasn't the prettiest to watch, but we just had to keep battling, it was a chance to move on."

In the winner's bracket later in the night, Coldwater beat St. Henry 11-1 in five innings to secure the number one seed. St. Henry will play Russia in the first game at 6 p.m. on Friday in the District 4 tournament at Veterans Field, while Coldwater will play Minster at 8 p.m.

In a game that lasted nearly three hours, three Bulldogs pitchers combined to surrender 15 hits and were undermined by a defense that committed 10 errors.

"Everybody got in the game, everybody hit," Celina coach Scott Steinbrunner said. "Our defense just let us down."

On one play in the third, a wild throw to second sailed into right field, and as the runner from third scampered home, the throw from right arrived in time but about 10 feet too high and the run scored.

In the sixth, Blayn Aller threw a pickoff to second to trap Coldwater's Josh Welsch in a rundown but instead sent the ball flying into centerfield, and as Welsch rounded third and came home, the throw came in short of home and Carter Altstaetter's diving tag missed.

Add in three more throwing errors, two dropped fly balls and a botched grounder, and the Bulldogs had set up an uphill battle for themselves.

"We dropped fly balls, we missed ground balls, overthrew cutoffs," Steinbrunner said. "We've made some errors in other games, but never at that magnitude."

Myles Blasingame hit a bloop single to no-man's land in short left field to open the game, stole second, then scored on Adam Hrycko's single for a quick Cavaliers lead. Hrycko moved to second on an error in the outfield and was joined on the bases by Luke Sudhoff, who was hit by a pitch, before scoring on a single by Zach Bruggeman.

The next five batters reached on a walk, an error and three singles, with Celina starter Quinn Andrew exiting after eight batters. All nine Cavaliers reached before the Bulldogs recorded an out.

"He was leaving some balls up, and then some of the other balls, we should've made a couple plays for him too," Steinbrunner said. "It definitely wasn't all on him."

Celina responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning and had the bases loaded with one out when third baseman Dale Secrest bounced into an inning-ending double play. In the second, the Bulldogs scored four runs with two outs and all of a sudden it was a one-run game.

With Celina rapidly closing the gap, Brunswick called on Zach Bruggeman to relieve Sudhoff, and after a single that allowed a pair of inherited runners to score, Bruggeman struck out David Kramer to end the inning.

Bruggeman stranded a pair of runners in each of the next two innings as Coldwater padded the lead.

"Luke had trouble getting his breaking ball over," Brunswick said. "I think he just got one or two over, and they were sitting on his fastball, we were just getting behind on counts. I felt like we had to make a change in pitching, maybe bring Luke back this weekend. Keegan did a nice job of making them get in swing mode, got his breaking ball over enough, and we made a few plays behind him."

The Cavaliers got to reliever Max Baumstark in the third with three singles, four errors and no outs as the first five batters reached. All nine batters came to the plate, with Evan Harlamert hitting a soft line drive to shortstop to end the inning.

After Baumstark stranded a pair of runners in the fourth, the Cavaliers added four more on three hits in the fifth. With one out, Blasingame hit a fly ball to centerfielder Zander Jones, but Jones dropped it and two runs scored to make it 18-8.

"Meeting at the first base line (after the third), it was basically, 'This is a brand new game," Brunswick said. "We lost momentum, but let's get that momentum back right here by getting several runs."

Staring down the run-rule again, Celina fought to earn another inning. Pinch-hitter Adam Staugler hit a leadoff single, then moved to second on a slow groundout and to third on a wild pitch before Andrew hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to nine.

After Coldwater added a run in the top of the sixth, Jones led off the inning with a walk, moved up when Bruggeman was called for a balk, then went to third on a groundout, setting up Carter Altstaetter for an RBI single to ensure a seventh inning.

"We fought back, we battled," Steinbrunner said. "Coldwater tried to get the run-rule because they had another game later, and we made them play a full seven. I wouldn't have thought that, being 9-0 after the top of the first."

Altstaetter was cut down in a double play to end the inning, the Cavaliers' third inning-ending double play of the night. After the Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the seventh and put runners on first and second, the Cavaliers got another ground ball to short and Jace Wood flipped it to second for a forceout to end the game.

"One inning, we didn't get the double play turned, and they scored (four) after that," Brunswick said. "We need to turn them, and did turn several. Overall played pretty solid defense."

Coldwater 11, St. Henry 1

The Cavaliers' bats picked up where they left off in the first game, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning and breaking it open in the fourth for the county championship.

Blasingame led off the first with an infield hit, then scored on Hrycko's RBI double for a 1-0 lead. Hrycko ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Kaup.

In the third, Coldwater strung together a two-out rally to pull away. A pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Braylen Harlamert, who tripled on a ground ball to right field to bring home three runs. He scored on a single to make it 6-0 before Redskins starter Dusty Lange got out of the inning.

Lange exited after the third, but reliever Ben Moorman alternated walks and singles to put the first four runners on in the fourth. Sudhoff doubled to score another run and Braylen Harlamert hit an RBI single to cross the run-rule threshold.

A bases-loaded walk in the fifth made it 11-0 before St. Henry got in gear in the fifth. Bryce Brookhart hit an RBI double, scoring Nolan Kunkler and cutting the deficit to 10, before a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs. Mark Knapke struck out swinging to extinguish the threat.

St. Henry had secured its spot in the district tournament on Saturday with an 8-5 win over the Cavaliers.