Baseball | West Holmes does the little things right to advance to district championship

COSHOCTON — A lot of little things added up to something big for West Holmes, as the Knights made the most of their opportunities to topple the John Glenn Little Muskies 3-1 in a Division II East district semifinal Monday at Ben Tufford Field at Lake Park.

The win advances the 13th-seeded Knights (14-12) to the district championship Wednesday against fifth-seeded New Philadelphia, an 8-4 winner over Indian Creek. The game is at Sandy Valley High School.

"Everybody's finally playing to their potential," West Holmes coach Wyatt Mellor said. "Our defense behind our pitching has been phenomenal. I've been preaching to these guys from the beginning that we've got to play to your competition every day, and that's pretty much what we did today. We made the plays we're supposed to make. It was a great win and we're looking forward to keeping the streak alive."

The Knights jumped on John Glenn senior ace Colin Campbell for a run on three hits in the first inning. Singles by Brady Smith, Gino DiNardi and Micah Martin loaded the bases with one out. Hunter Aurand brought Smith home with a sacrifice fly.

The Muskies got two hits in the home half of the first inning off senior Noah Clark, but a double play got him off the hook to end the rally. John Glenn had runners on base in the second and third innings as well, but couldn't push anything across.

"This time of year you have to do the little things," John Glenn coach Brad Barclay said. "We didn’t do that, and it cost us a couple of runs. We got runners on base, but we struggled to get that big hit that would have pushed them across."

West Holmes made it 2-0 in the fifth inning, when Smith led off with a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored on a double to right-center by Rudy Hershberger.

"I struggled my first at-bat and I knew I swung too early on my second at-bat [that resulted in an infield single], but on my third at-bat, I was thinking, 'just wait on it.' And that first pitch I just drove it, and it felt so amazing," Hershberger said.

The Muskies scored their lone run in the home half of the fifth without a hit after Clark plunked seventh batter Aaron Johnson and advanced him to second on a wild pitch. He was sacrificed to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by No. 9 hitter Noah Winland.

West Holmes tacked on an unearned insurance tally in the sixth when Smith smoked a two-out single to score Blake McCombs, who reached on a fielder's choice and moved up to second on a walk.

Clark went the distance on the hill to pick up his second consecutive tournament win.

"Noah threw a heck of a game ... again," Mellor added. "He had low pitch count [around 86 pitches] and had soft contact all night. He did exactly what he's supposed to do."

The hard-throwing senior scattered eight hits, striking out a pair and walking a pair. He also hit a batter.

"I am absolutely blessed with a team of good hitters, and great defense," Clark said. "It's not me. It's all the defense. The opposing offense put the balls in play and our defense made the plays every time we needed. I am so blessed to be a part of that. Our second baseman Gino DiNardi came through at the end, catching that line drive and throwing to first as quick as he can," Clark said. "It was an awesome double play.

"All I look forward to is when am I going to pitch again," he continued. "I don't feel satisfied after today whatsoever. I gave up eight too many hits. We got Nick [Ginsburg] going on Wednesday, and good Lord willing, we win that game and then I'm out there on the mound again. I'm excited."

The Knights are happy to still be playing, but in no way are they surprised.

"We know we have a good team," Hershberger said. "We got a great program, great coaches and a great team."

"That winning attitude follows you everywhere in life, on the football field, the baseball field, in the classroom — it doesn't matter where you are," Clark said. "You've just got to strive to be your best."

John Glenn bowed out at 15-11. Barclay felt his team had its chances.

"Colin pitched his best game of the year, and I thought he matched Noah [Clark]. He did a great job mixing his pitches," Barclay said of Campbell. "That’s nothing against Noah, who is a good pitcher in his own right. You can tell he’s the quarterback of the football team and he was the quarterback on the mound. He found a way to escape jams and keep us off the board."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Baseball: West Holmes beats John Glenn 3-1 in district semis