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Marion Local pitcher tags out Minster's Conner Schmiesing at the plate in the first inning as Schmiesing was trying to score on a passed ball. The Flyers won 7-6 at the Airport on Thursday.
MARIA STEIN - After walkoff losses to St. Henry and Parkway this summer, Marion Local was due for some good fortune.
The Flyers got it Thursday, when Isaac Muhlenkamp's ground ball tied up Minster second baseman Louis Magoto to allow Drew Lause to cross the plate with the winning run in a 7-6 walkoff win at the Airport.
"It felt great, and the thing about ACME, we're out here to have fun," Marion Local coach Max Link said. "I think these guys are really starting to learn to enjoy the sport of baseball."
Minster (3-4) took its first lead in the top of the seventh, as Brandon Lickteig led off with a full-count walk, moved up on a wild pitch and to third on a bunt, and scored to make it 5-4 when Dylan Schmiesing dropped a line drive in front of Hayden Poeppelman in right field.
But Flyers reliever Drew Lause got a fielder's choice and a popout to limit the damage, and Bryant Meier led off the bottom half with a single through the right side. Lause followed with a bunt single past pitcher Conner Schmiesing and Parker Hess tried to follow suit, only to be called out when the ball hit him coming out of the box.
Minster shortstop Noah Schwieterman charges a ground ball against Marion Local.
Colten Ahrens took the first pitch he saw into the left-center gap to tie the game, and after Conner Schmiesing got a strikeout, Muhlenkamp hit a slowly-bounding ball to Magoto, in as an injury replacement for James Niemeyer. Shortstop Noah Schwieterman called for the ball with Ahrens still running to second, but the ball bounced up on Magoto and Ahrens and Muhlenkamp reached safely to make the winning run count.
"This team's still young, still a lot of talent to them," Link said. "They're still getting into the baseball IQ and stuff. That's the things that I've really focused on, and I think they did a really good job today. I think they've learned more and more every day just how much an error really matters in a game."
Marion Local (3-6) got six innings from starting pitcher Griffin Bruns, who held the Wildcats in check through the first four - with an out at the plate in the first as Conner Schmiesing tried to score on a passed ball - but hit his one hiccup in the fifth.
Rylan Edwards got the rally started by beating a one-out ground ball to short for an infield single, and when Lickteig hit a grounder to Parker Hess at third, Hess tried for a double play and sailed the throw to second. Caleb Couse followed with an RBI single, then wandered off first, and when Bruns approached to start a rundown, Lickteig tried for home and was thrown out instead.
Undaunted, Dylan Schmiesing added an RBI single, a single and a hit loaded the bases, and Dylan Heitkamp hit a liner to right that sank just out of reach of a diving Poeppelman to tie the game at 4.
"They beat us in the first round of the tournament, so we know they've got our number right now," Minster coach Jay Eilerman said. "But we played pretty well in the middle. Started out slow - thought we had a chance there at the end to get out of that last inning, but it just didn't happen."
A two-out rally against Conner Schmiesing in the third inning got the Flyers on the board, as Muhlenkamp reached on an error, moved up on a single down the third base line, then scored as Bruns poked a line drive into center.
Marion Local's Hayden Poeppelman rounds third on his way home in the fourth inning.
In the fourth, Poeppelman started things off with a single through the right side and Ethan Heitkamp snuck a grounder past Ian Homan at third. After a flyout, Lause lofted a single to right and Link sent Poeppelman home, and though the throw was in time, it was too far up the third base line for catcher Dylan Heitkamp and Poeppelman scored. Hess followed with a two-run single to left-center to make it 4-0.
"Definitely their speed played into that," Eilerman said of the Wildcats' errors. "I think we were rushing some throws. They've got a lot of good athletes, so they put pressure on you to make plays. Tonight we had a couple mishaps."
From there, Conner Schmiesing settled down, retiring the next seven batters in order before walking Ethan Heitkamp, who was gunned down by Dylan Heitkamp trying to steal three pitches later, ending the sixth inning.
Conner Schmiesing finished with five innings of relief after Niemeyer left with an injury, allowing nine hits and being charged with four earned runs.
"He hasn't been throwing a whole lot this summer," Eilerman said. "I thought once he got one or two innings into it, (he settled in). Started to slow down at the end, and that's kind of when they got him."
