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New Bremen's Bennett Tinnerman (4) throws to first base after forcing out Parkway's Lennox Boroff.
COLDWATER - The all-Midwest Athletic Conference district baseball final was set by the end of play on Wednesday night, but there was a little bit of sweating going on in both semifinals.
In the all-MAC semifinal, New Bremen jumped out to an early lead as Gavin Quellhorst pitched well in holding off Parkway 3-1 in the nightcap of the Division VI district semifinals at Coldwater's Veterans Field.
Marion Local had a 6-1 lead on Columbus Grove going to the top of the seventh inning of the first semifinal, but had to fight off a late Bulldogs run that had the bases loaded before the Flyers escaped with a 6-5 win.
The Cardinals and Flyers face off for a trip to the Hamler regional on Friday at 6 p.m. The Flyers won the regular season meeting on April 24 4-0 at the Airport.
The Cardinals struck first in the bottom of the first. Caleb Keller reached on a one-out single. One out later, Dylan Wente singled to put two on for Brady Keller, who lofted a single to center, scoring Caleb Keller and Wente while Brady Keller went to second on the throw and took third on an error.
New Bremen used some two-out hitting to bring around the third run. After Brayden Bruns got the first two outs for Parkway, Grayson Tinnerman singled. Owen Bornhorst followed with a single of his own before Caleb Keller singled home Grayson Tinnerman to make it 3-0.
"We had some timely hitting early," said New Bremen coach Chad Wells. "Really, I was happy with the guys' bats throughout the whole game, even though we didn't put runs up at the end of the game. They were still putting up quality at-bats. Credit to Parkway's defense. They made some nice plays."
The Panthers had a good chance to score in the fourth as Xavier Samples led off by getting hit by a pitch. Carson Kirby followed with a single that sent Samples to third, but the throw to second as Kirby tried to stretch a single to a double was on time for the out. With Kolt Harner up, a ball got away from catcher AJ Rismiller, but he was able to throw the ball to Quellhorst to apply the tag to Samples for the second out.
Parkway's Carson Kirby (10) steps on first base as New Bremen's Gavin Quellhorst slides.
"Gavin made a nice play. AJ hustled and was heads-up," said Wells. "Really proud of the effort."
Parkway attempted its own two-out rally in the fifth after Lennox Boroff and Jacoby Triplett got back-to-back singles. After a passed ball moved the runners into scoring position, Quellhorst struck out Brayden Bruns to end the threat.
After giving up the runs in the first two innings, Bruns held New Bremen to just one hit and two walks over his final four innings of work, striking out three.
Quellhorst scattered just four hits through the first six scoreless innings, but Parkway was not willing to concede in the seventh as Kolt Harner drew a four-pitch walk, then took second when a pickoff throw from Rismiller went into right field. Braedn Conn took three straight balls before Quellhorst managed a strike, then Conn took the fifth pitch for a ball to put two on for pinch-hitter Parker Lyons, who grounded to Bennett Tinnerman at second, who threw to Caleb Keller to force out Conn for the first out as runners moved to the corners. Quellhorst then struck out Boroff for his ninth punchout of the night, but Triplett grounded to third, with the throw to first pulling Austin Heckman off the bag and allowing Harner to score and put the tying run at first for Bruns. Quellhorst bowed his back and got Bruns to hit a 1-2 pitch to left field, where Bornhorst made the catch to end the game.
"It was a quality ballgame. A good tournament game," said Wells.
Marion Local's Ian Rindler fields the ball as Columbus Grove's Alex Meyer runs down to first base.
The Bulldogs picked up a run in the top of the first when Kyle Hopkins scored on a perfect squeeze bunt by Caleb Davis.
The Flyers quickly took control by sending 10 batters in the bottom of the inning.
Griffin Bruns led off with a double. Ian Rindler followed with a double of his own to tie the game. Ethan Heitkamp followed with a single before Grove pitcher Gage Sautter got Hayden Poeppelman to ground into a double play for the first two outs. Parker Hess kept the inning going with a triple up Hemmelgarn Hill to score Rindler. Bryant Meier followed with a double to score Hess to make it 3-1. After Damon Cramer walked, Derek Knapke singled home Meier, then Isaac Moeller singled home Cramer, prompting Grove coach Brayden Sautter to pull Gage Sautter for Brady Basinger, who struck out Bruns to end the inning.
"Both teams were kind of maneuvering for Friday night," said Marion coach Mitch Hays. "We kind of lost sight of this game."
Rindler settled down after the first inning, getting through the next five innings, helped by a big 6-4-3 double play to end the second inning.
Basinger also recorded shutout innings in the second and third, but the Flyers got back to work in the fourth. Rindler led off with an infield single and came around when Hess hit into a fielder's choice that left all hands safe.
Marion Local catcher Ethan Heitkamp waits on a foul pop against Columbus Grove.
Grove put some pressure on the Flyers in the top of the seventh. Jacob Ricker led the inning off with a single, then Gage Sautter reached on an error. Rindler enticed a fly out to center from Carter Flores, but Aiden Patrick walked to load the bases for pinch-hitter Riley Sautter, who singled to center to bring home Ricker. Hays brought Meier in from left field to try and close the game and got Hopkins to foul pop to Heitkamp for the second out, but Alex Meyer, Basinger and Davis hit consecutive RBI singles to put the tying run at third for Ricker. This time, though Meier enticed the batter to fly out to Drew Lause in center to end the game.
"Ian pitched well for six innings," said Hays. "I don't think he got tired. I think he was overthinking it. He's a good pitcher. He just has to finish."
