GALION — Seneca East head coach Rick Bowerman knew that beating a league rival three times in a season would be difficult. But not impossible.
The Tigers got a solid pitching performance from senior Brandon Hines and his teammates backed him up with a 9-hit effort in downing Colonel Crawford 9-3 to win the Division IV district baseball crown Friday night at Heise Park.
“The first two games were close games. We beat them 8-7 and 4-0. They’re a very good team and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Bowerman said.
The Tigers plated 3 runs in the first inning and never looked back.
Nicolas Parks, who had three hits, hit a sharp single to right center and was followed by Brandon Hines, who smacked a two RBI double to bring in Aiden Hines, who had walked, along with Parks.
“Brandon really battled out there and we made some plays and some we didn’t make. We fought through that. At the plate we did some things right, looked the opposite way and had aggressive base running,” Bowerman said.
“Parks, a freshman, with three hits today. He came through big. We’ve got some young kids playing and doing a good job.”
Hines got the win with an 8-strikeout, 3-walk showing.
“Crawford’s a great team; a tough team to beat three times in a row especially. They’re a bunch of great ball players,” Hines said.
“It feels great beating them and in the district finals it’s a little bit sweeter than the other two. I expect us to keep going and playing good baseball and keep winning,” he said. “A great team effort. We made a couple of errors but had a big inning in the seventh.”
The Eagles scored a pair in the bottom of the fourth to cut it to 3-2. Each team added a run in the fifth inning.
Cody Heibertshausen broke it open with a three-run single in the seventh as the Tigers scored 5 runs to secure the win.
With the victory, Seneca East makes the trip to the regional semifinal game in Lancaster next Thursday afternoon. The opponent is Mowrystown Whiteoak (26-2). The Wildcats shut out Ironton 10-0 in 5 innings to win its district title.
The Northern 10 Athletic Conference competition, plus some non-league games, prepared Bowerman’s squad for the post-season.
“Our league is one of the best small school leagues around. Us and Crawford we always battle and Wynford and Upper Sandusky. Good baseball and it prepares you for games like this.”
The Tigers dropped their first two league games to Carey, but then got the ship righted, Bowerman said.
“It took us a while to get our footing and find our identity to do what we need to do to win. District champions is tough. It’s tough to win a game. I’m really proud of these kids.
“We had a point late in the season where we stood at a game under .500 and had three Division I schools to play. We beat Sandusky, Norwalk, and Tiffin Columbian. That gave us a lot of confidence.”
Colonel Crawford head coach Dan Gorbett reflected on the spring campaign.
“We just played so many young kids and we’ve come so far this season. We had four lettermen and a jayvee team that won one game last year. We just pieced together a bunch of guys that worked hard and found a way to win.”
The teams came in with identical 15-12 records.
“We ended up 15-13 and district runner-up. There’s not too many people in the area that thought Colonel Crawford would be standing in that position,” Gorbett said.
“I’m proud of the kids. Unless you win the state championship, this is how it ends. We had our opportunities today and we let the game get away from us in the last inning, and anybody who was here today knows this was a very, very close game.
“Give credit to Brandon Hines for making the pitches. They’re good situational hitters. They had like 6 hits to the opposite field and those are all off-speed pitches. Coach Bowerman is one of the best coaches in the area and how they played today shows that.”
Crawford pitcher Nick Eachus fanned 6 and walked a like number.
“He battles. He’s done a great job. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but he gets his off-speed stuff over and is very effective. It was a tough first inning there, but he beared down and in the middle innings he pitched very, very well,” Gorbett said.
Eachus, Van Wintersteller, Deagan Moore, and Jacob Lucius singled for Crawford.
Gorbett has a lot of returning talent for next season, having played numerous underclassmen.
“All three of those freshmen are pitchers too,” he said referring to Moore, Wintersteller and McCartney.
“We lose Nick and Brennan (Hamilton), who are our two outstanding pitchers. So that’s going to be the challenge next year and developing those guys faster than maybe would be expected.
“I have faith in them. They’ve been amazing, playing in so many different positions and coming through in the clutch in games. In 3 or 4 years it’s going to be fun to see where they’re at.”
Preparing for a regional tournament means focusing on fundamentals, Bowerman said.
“Competition is tough. It’ll be close ball games. So, we have to work on making routine plays, putting the ball in play, hitting the opposite way, getting bunts down and doing those fundamental things.”
Box score
Seneca East 300 010 5 9 9 3
Colonel Crawford 000 210 0 3 4 2
WP: Brandon Hines (8 SO, 3 W)
LP: Nick Eachus (6 SO, 6 W)
HR: None.
Triples: (SE) Cooper Skeel.
Doubles: (SE) Caden Fritz, Brandon Hines.
Multiple hits: (SE) Nicolas Parks 3, Brandon Hines.
Records: Seneca East 16-12; Colonel Crawford 15-13.
Next: Seneca East vs. Mowrystown Whiteoak at the Lancaster Division IV regional semifinal, Thursday.