Finishing strong

CELINA - Host families for the Grand Lake Mariners were honored on Tuesday at Montgomery Field.

And the hosting team went out a winner.

Nick Hoffman's single in the eighth inning scored New Bremen alum Luke Vonderhaar for the go-ahead run as Grand Lake defeated Galion 6-3 in the regular season finale.

"To be out of the playoff picture and to come with that intensity today, especially at the end when you feel like guys are checked out, that was really good to see," Grand Lake coach Damon Haecker said.

The Mariners finished 20-21 in their second year under Haecker, a three-win bump from last season.     An estimated 524 fans attended Tuesday's game. A large contingent of them sat in "The Galley," a designated beer area with beverages provided by local vendors. They witnessed a pretty entertaining game, too.

Carson Eddy smoked a single up the middle to open up Grand Lake's first-inning at-bat. After advancing to second on a passed ball, Eddy scored on a single by Noah Thigpen. Thomas Eitniear made it aboard with a fielder's choice in the second. He stole second and then third, with a throwing error on the catcher sending Eitniear home for a 2-0 lead.

Grand Lake had five hits through two innings and stranded four runners on base. Galion's chances were limited, though.

Mariner starter Ryan Mohr retired the side in four of the first five innings - with a little help by center fielder Jared Hunt's diving catch in the fifth. Right before that catch, Mohr struck out beer batter Joe Watts to give fans $1 off beverages for the remainder of the inning.

But the Graders got a run their next time up as Bryce Ray hit an RBI double off the fence in right.

A solo home run by Oliver Campbell extended Grand Lake's lead to 3-1 in its next at-bat.

Mohr pitched six innings, giving up five hits while striking out a trio and walking none. Noah Richard fanned the first two batters he faced in the seventh - including Watts to give fans discounted beer again - as part of a 1-2-3 inning.

Richard gave up a leadoff double to Ryan Strittmather in the eighth, with an infield single by Sean McLaughlin putting runners on the corners. Austin Harper's sacrifice fly RBI made it a 3-2 game. Richard went on to allow another single and a walk, loading the bases. Enter Brad Calhoun, who enticed DeVonte Washington to ground to short on his first pitch. But a bad exchange on an attempted double play allowed the tying run to score. Calhoun struck out JP Bitzenhofer to end the inning and keep it tied.

Vonderhaar beat out an infield single to start the Mariners' eighth inning. He took second when relief pitcher Chase Jessee uncorked a wild pitch. Jessee went on to walk Logan Adams and Eitniear. Hoffman dropped Jessee's next pitch in the right-field grass for the game-winning single. Cole Kiddy added an insurance run with an RBI sac fly on Celina Insurance Group Night.

Calhoun pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win. He struck out four and walked zero. Grand Lake's three pitchers combined to strikeout nine and walk just one.

Vonderhaar went 2 for 4 to finish the season with a .300 average. Hoffman, Eddy, Thigpen and Campbell all had two hits.

"I told all of them at the end, from Day 1 until now I feel everyone of them has learned something and everyone of them has gotten better and can take that back with them to work on at school," Haecker said. "That's my job, and that's what summer ball is all about in college. They did their part. They put in work every day and to finish it like that, where we give up the lead a little bit late and we scratch and claw back there at the end is awesome."

Final GLSCL Standings:
North Division

W  L  Pct.
Lima-*  26  15  .634
Muskegon-#  22  19  .537
Michigan  20  20  .500
Grand Lake  20  21  .488
St. Clair  19  20  .487
Galion  11  29  .275

South Division

W  L  Pct.
Licking County-*  25  17  .595
Cincinnati-#  24  18  .571
Southern Ohio  23  18  .561
Hamilton  22  18  .550
Xenia  18  24  .429
Richmond  15  26  .366

* - Clinched Division
# - Clinched Playoff

SEMIFINALS (Best-of-three)
Thursday

Muskegon at Lima, 7:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Licking County, 7:05 p.m.
Friday

Lima at Muskegon, 7:05 p.m.

Licking County at Cincinnati, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday (if necessary)

Muskegon at Lima, 7:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Licking County, 7:05 p.m.