|
|
Arcanum's
Donnie Kress and Austin Ripple hug each other
after Ripple scored the
winning run in the bottom of the ninth for a
7-6 sectional title win over Southeastern
at Covington Wednesday. The
Trojans will battle Lehman tonight in district action
at Newton High
School starting at 5 p.m. CNO photo by
George Starks
|
|
Arcanum
tops Southeastern in nine
Trojans move on to
district
By George Starks
COVINGTON- With one down in the bottom of the ninth, Grady Garno ripped
a single to centerfield scoring Austin Ripple as Arcanum got by
Southeastern 7-6 Wednesday at Covington.
The victory secured the sectional title for the Trojans and put them
into the district game tonight at Newton against Lehman Catholic.
It was a night when Arcanum coach Randy Baker was forced to pull out
all the stops with the final one being Garno.
Baker brought the lefty in, in the top of the sixth in relief of Ripple
who came on in relief of Jacob Albaugh in the second.
In three innings of work, Garno fanned eight straight
Southeastern Trojans as well as picking up the game winning hit.
“Tremendous job by him,” said Baker. “He’s a senior and we expect that
out of him. He made good quality pitches and stayed ahead of the
hitters. It was a nice piece of hitting on his part because he’s been
in a slump lately. I thought of all the at bats he had tonight, he hit
the ball hard each time.”
Things looked bleak for the Trojans in the beginning as Southeastern
took a 6-2 lead in the second with Ripple on in relief.
Ripple was able to hold the Southeastern bats at bay, allowing the
opposition just two hits after the second inning of work.
“He came in, in a tough situation,” said Baker. “The bases were loaded
and if he would have hit one spot, we would have been out of that
inning. He missed a spot and the kid hit a double and we were down 6-2
at that point. Austin did a heck of a job though. We were down four and
he kept us in the game.”
During that time, Arcanum put three runs up in the fifth, closing the
gap to a 6-5 count.
Arcanum got the score knotted up at 6-6 in the sixth on an RBI triple
by Corey Baker, scoring Collin Hable.
“These kids know how to battle,” Baker stated. “We never panicked. We
tell them, if you’re going to get behind, do it early. That way you
have plenty of time to make it up. Naturally, we never want to be
behind but today, we got down early and came back to win it. We’ve been
battle tested and we can do the job.”
Now, the Trojans will look toward Lehman tonight.
“This is our third time playing them, hopefully the third time is a
charm” said Baker. “They are a very talented team. We are going in
there and we’re not going to be scared. The last couple of years, we’ve
went in there a little tense but we’re just going to go in there and
play the way we’re capable of playing. They are a good team and we will
have our hands full.”
|
|
|
|
