GALION — Brennan Hamilton showed why he’s a first team all Northern 10 Athletic Conference selection.
The Colonel Crawford senior scattered 6 hits, struck out 9 Mohawk batters and led the Eagles to a 4-2 win in the Division IV district baseball semifinal Wednesday night at Heise Park.
Eagles head coach Dan Gorbett watched his ace work out of several jams, showing poise and shutting down the Warriors after a 2-run second inning.
“He was in a jam in the first inning, and they had a couple of swinging bunts where the ball just falls in there and there’s not much you can do,” he said.
Drew Woodland singled after an infield error to put runners at second and third, but Hamilton got out unscathed. He would do the same later in the game, working out of a bases loaded situation in the third inning.
“He got out of that with one run. Once he got out of that third-inning jam, he turned it up a notch,” Gorbett said. “That is a four-year letterman senior that you want in a pressure tournament game, and he put the team on his back and carried us through.”
Hamilton is now 7-3 on the season with 84 strikeouts and just 16 walks.
With the victory Colonel Crawford (15-12) faces Seneca East in the district final at 5 p.m. Friday.
The Tigers are also 15-12 after topping Lucas 2-1 in the other semifinal. They beat the Eagles twice during the regular season.
The Eagles managed 6 hits off Brayden Chester. Hamilton accounted for two of those as they manufactured enough runs to win. He is hitting .433 on the season.
“Our freshman Van Wintersteller went 3-for-3 right there. We got a nice safety squeeze by another freshman (Nate McCartney) there for a run. Friday, we’re going to have to hit the ball better no matter who we play.
“It was some good situational baseball that we did there. They played good defense, and we didn’t strike out too many times (just 3) and we put the ball in play,” Gorbett said.
Mohawk (10-16) hit the ball well, with Braylan Mullholand, Drew Woodland, and Hunter Haynes each getting a pair of hits.
An illness forced Gorbett to shuffle his line-up.
“The young kids have been amazing. Our starting shortstop and second-best hitter (Micah Thomas) was throwing up at noon so he didn’t even play today. So, a freshman centerfielder (Deagan Moore) played shortstop. He didn’t know some plays out there, but I’ve got to expect that,” he said.
Warriors head coach Eric Hoover watched his squad go ahead 2-1 in the second inning. Kaleb Bish and Haynes got base hits after a walk to Brayden Chester.
Haynes, the No. 9 hitter, drove in both runs. From there, however, Mohawk couldn’t get any more.
“We knew it was going to be a close game and coming in I probably thought 4 runs would win the game,” Hoover said. “We had chances to go up big early and couldn’t get anything but a pop out and a strikeout with runners in scoring position,” Hoover said.
He was referring to that third inning and to Hamilton’s ability to shut the door.
“He’s good. He does a great job on the mound and makes it tough. I thought we watched too many strikes. He did a good job of finding the outside corner and battling out of it in those situations. He could have folded or got angry, but he didn’t.
“He was mentally tough and that’s how you get through tough times as a pitcher and he did that in those situations.”
Taking a young Colonel Crawford team back to the district finals isn’t a total surprise to the veteran coach.
“That’s how we’ve been with them all year. They don’t question it. They’re just, ‘OK coach,’ not ‘Oh, I can’t do that, coach.’ They’re freshmen who act like three-year lettermen,” Gorbett said.
“It’s been a lot of fun. We have a sophomore (Austin Kelly) move in from Virginia who is starting and a couple seniors who played jayvee last year come up with decent seasons. And we have our four-year lettermen who have kind of been the base core of our team.”
Mohawk got out of a couple of innings with double plays and played error-free ball.
“We only made a couple of those all year. We’ve been working at it and defensively we made plays when we needed to, which has been a struggle for us a lot. We showed improvement there,” Hoover said.
Mohawk loses just two seniors, Bryce Hannam and Kayden Stober.
“We are young and inexperienced on the mound. We lost 7 of the 9 guys who played last year. There were a lot of question marks,” Hoover said.
“A lot of guys that I didn’t know came in and made contributions. A lot of sophomores are first-year varsity players, and they end up in in the middle of the line-up. It’s encouraging for the future.
“They showed some ability down the stretch. We were in every game at the end. They just need to work at it, improve in the toughness area and get better at the plate.”
Box score
Mohawk 020 000 0 2 9 0
Colonel Crawford 102 100 X 4 6 2
WP: Brennan Hamilton (9 SO, 2 W)
LP: Brayden Chester (3 SO, 5 W)
HR: None.
Triples: None.
Doubles: None.
Multiple hits: (M) Braylan Mullholand, Drew Woodland, Hunter Haynes; (CC) Van Winterstellar 3, Brennan Hamilton.
Records: Mohawk 10-16; Colonel Crawford 15-12.
Next: Mohawk season over; Colonel Crawford vs. Seneca East at Galion Division IV district final, Friday.