The Daily Standard
Story Archive
St. Marys' Grady Hughes (9) is surrounded by teammates after hitting the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Roughriders defeated rival Celina 2-1 in Western Buckeye League baseball action at K.C. Geiger Park.
ST. MARYS - Twice St. Marys had chances to get a walk-off win over Celina, only to leave the bases loaded.
Grady Hughes made sure there would not be a third time.
Hughes' two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Luke Rammel from second base to give the Roughriders a 2-1 victory over the cross-lake rival Bulldogs at K.C. Geiger Park on Wednesday, capping off the game just minutes away from reaching three hours.
The win capped off a battle of solid pitching and timely plays that kept the teams from scoring much of the game.
"It's a barnburner," said St. Marys coach Adam Graves, whose squad improves to 6-1 and 1-0 in Western Buckeye League play. "It's a big game coming in being against your rival and it's our first WBL game. Our guys played pretty well, but I hate to see how many guys we left on base (16, including with the bases loaded three straight innings). We left a ton of guys on base. That's something we have to focus on."
"Two good WBL teams slugging it out," said Celina coach John Dorner, whose squad drops to 3-6 and 0-2 in the WBL. "Being the home team was a definite advantage in getting last licks. I'm not unhappy. I would have rather had a different result, but it was a gutty performance by our team. Lots of big plays and big pitches."
St. Marys had scored its first run in the fourth off Celina ace Brady Steinbrunner as Preston Rupert led off with a double. Joel Kogge dropped a bunt to move the runner, but the throw was wild, allowing Rupert to come around to score.
Celina got the run back in the top of the fifth as Colten Ross led off with a double and was run for by Ohyn May. Braylon Parker followed with a sacrifice bunt, then Nick Steinbrunner doubled to left to knot the game.
That would be the last good chance for Celina as Kogge came on for Kasey Gross in the sixth. Gross had allowed just five hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings.
Brady Steinbrunner worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth as Kogge got a one-out single. One out later, Aidan Meinerding singled and Hughes was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Bulldogs got out of the jam when Dyllan Fink popped up to short.
In the seventh, Gross led off with a single, stole second. The throw was wild, but Kogge got tied up with a defender in attempting to go to third. The base umpire ruled interference and sent Gross to third. After an argument, Dorner brought on Luke Maxwell, who walked Reese Howell, who never stopped and ended up at second. Dorner ordered Jacob Kaiser to be walked intentionally to set up the force everywhere. Rupert hit a hard shot to short, but Gross paused just enough to have the throw home for the force. Maxwell then struck out Kogge before getting Rammel to fly out to end the jam.
St. Marys' Kasey Gross collides with Celina catcher Nick Steinbrunner after being forced out in the seventh inning of Wednesday's game at K.C. Geiger Park.
"He came in and did a super job," Dorner said of Maxwell.
In the eighth, Meinerding led off with a single. Maxwell got a strikeout before hitting Fink. After Gross popped up to first, Howell walked to bring up Kaiser. This time, Maxwell got the strikeout to send the game to the ninth.
Meanwhile, Kogge retired the first six batters he faced before Wes Greber reached on an error in the sixth. Greber was promptly caught stealing via a 1-3-6 pickoff attempt. Kogge got the next two outs. Then in the top of the ninth, Tanner Wendel led off with a single, but Kogge struck out two and got a pop to third to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
Celina's Wes Greber (13) tries to avoid the tag of St. Marys' Dyllan Fink.
Rupert led off the ninth with a single and was pulled for pinch-runner Reid Kantner. Maxwell then got Kogge to pop up to Nick Steinbrunner. Rammel lofted a short fly to center that dropped, but Kantner's brief stop to watch the fly resulted in an 8-6 putout fielder's choice. Meinerding followed with his third single of the day to bring up Hughes, who was 0-for-3 and struck out in the eighth. This time, Hughes hit a 0-1 single to left. Rammel dashed home and easily beat the throw to end the marathon.
"Grady, being a sophomore and getting his first varsity experience, coming up huge for us at the end," said Graves. "I know he was feeling a little down (after striking out in the eighth), but he went up there with confidence. He didn't do anything crazy. He knew he had to get a good hard-hit out (to the outfield)."
"The bottom of the order came through for them," said Dorner. "Both teams played with intensity. Two good teams were squaring off like a boxing match, slugging back and forth, then the other team would counter. It's a tough loss for anybody that loses that game. It's our second 2-1 loss to them in a row (the first last season). But we had a lot of things that were better today, so we're on our way once we get our bats rolling."
Kogge struck out six and allowed one hit over four innings of relief to earn the win.
"Kasey pitched five good innings for us and Joel pitched four good innings," said Graves. "My guys kept battling."
Nick Steinbrunner went 2-for-4 for Celina. In addition to Meinerding's three hits. Rupert had two hits.
Both teams are back in league play tonight. St. Marys travels to Defiance and Celina plays host to Van Wert.
