Redskins going for the title

COLDWATER - St. Henry came up with the plays it needed on Saturday and will play for a berth in the ACME Baseball State Tournament tonight.

The Redskins earned their spot in the District 4 championship game with a 7-4 win over Coldwater in the winner's bracket final on Saturday, leaving the host Cavaliers to have to face Russia in a win-or-go-home game on Sunday after the Raiders ended Minster's season 6-2 in Saturday's second game.

The Raiders plated five runs in the third inning and held off the Cavaliers to end Coldwater's season on Sunday afternoon 5-4.

The Redskins and Raiders face off tonight at 6 p.m. If Russia wins, the teams will play another game immediately following the first game with the winner heading to Elida on Saturday at 3 p.m.

SATURDAY
St. Henry 7, Coldwater 4

The Redskins used two big innings to score all the runs they needed to advance.

After Coldwater plated the first run of the game in the bottom of the first when Luke Sudhoff scored on an error, St. Henry went to work in the third, sending eight men to the plate and plating four runs. Drew Schwieterman doubled home Bryce Brookhart for the tying run and after Clayton Everman was hit by a Marcel Blasingame pitch, Nolan Schmitz singled home Shane Franck, with miscue fielding the ball in the outfield allowing Drew Schwieterman to score to make it 3-1. Everman then came home on a Seth Heitkamp fielder's choice.

In the fourth, the Redskins plated three more runs. Franck singled home Nolan Kunkler and Brookhart and later scored on a Heitkamp fielder's choice.

"We hit the ball well," said St. Henry coach Tyler Bruns. "Four in the third, three in the four. That did it for us right there."

That was all Schmitz needed to pull his team through. The left-hander struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings.

Coldwater got a run back in the sixth on a Adam Hrycko sacrifice fly and in the eighth added two more as Kayden Baumer led off by reaching on an error and Blasingame getting on with a single. After Schmitz reached his pitch count after getting the first out, Devin Delzeith came on to get the final two outs. Sudhoff lofted a fly to center to score Baumer and Rece Mescher followed with an RBI single before Delzeith struck out Josh Welsch to end the game.

"Was hoping he could go the (distance). He got ahead in the count early against a lot of them," said Bruns of Schmitz. "He's start 0-2 and throw three balls to fill it up, then finish them off. That's all right. Devin came in and closed it down in the end."

Russia 6, Minster 2

Five days after Russia beat Minster 2-1 in the Auglaize-Shelby bracket, the teams met again in a must-win game after they lost their Friday openers.

The Raiders' Xavier Phlipot was on target all evening, retiring the first 13 batters of the game before Nate Oldiges got a one-out single in the fifth. Phlipot still faced the minimum through five as pinch-runner Kaleb Sharp was thrown out trying to steal second.

Russia did the bulk of its damage in the fourth inning as the Raiders plated five runs off Minster stater Nathan Beair. Phlipot helped his own cause with a two-run single and Jude Counts and Brayden Monnin each added RBI singles. The Raiders added its final run in the top of the seventh when Hayden Quinter scored on an error.

Minster avoided the shutout in the sixth as Eli Rindler came home as part of a double steal with Chase Couse. In the seventh, Johnny Nixon led off with a single and later scored on Adam Rindler's RBI single, but Phlipot struck out Logan Kohne for his seventh punchout of the night to end the game.

SUNDAY
Russia 5, Coldwater 4

The Cavaliers got the early advantage with two runs off Ross Fiessinger in the bottom of the second. Braylen Harlamert was hit by a pitch and went to second on Josh Kaup's bloop single. Two straight wild pitches set up the Coldwater runs as the runners moved up 90 feet on the first one, then the second easily scored Harlamert. With no one covering home, Kaup dashed home to score the second run to make it 2-0.

Russia came back in the hurry in the third after Keegan Bruggeman retired the first six batters he faced. An error allowed Patrick Bohman to reach first with Jude Counts following with a single. Felix Francis brought home the first Raider run with a single. A bunt by Zane Shappie allowed Counts to score the tying run with Monnin singling to right to bring home Francis with the go-ahead run. Phlipot followed with an RBI single before Bruggeman could get the second out. Jared Poling added the final run of the inning with an RBI single.

"The defense broke down for one inning, which was kind of the story for the weekend," said Coldwater coach Tom Brunswick. "Defensively, we didn't make the plays we needed to make."

After that, Bruggeman shut down the Raiders, holding them to just four more hits and an intentional walk.

"I thought Keegan threw a great game," said Brunswick. "He was competitive. Russia just made some good plays."

Fiessinger kept the Cavaliers scoreless from the third to the fifth before Kaup doubled home Bruggeman to cut it to 5-3. In the second, Blasingame reached on a one-out single, stole second and came home on Adam Hrycko's single. Fiessinger got help as Shappie made a diving catch in center for the second out before Bruggeman grounded out to third to end the game.

"I thought we had some good at-bats and hit some good balls, especially early" said Brunswick. "Russia made some great plays in the outfield.