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GALION - The last two seasons, Galion and Highland's Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference series has been must watch baseball.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, each of the last four meetings — including Wednesday night's clash — have ended with them coming up just short. Tuesday it was a 3-2 win for Highland thanks to two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Wednesday it was much of the same as the Scots put up three in the top of the seventh for a 3-0 final to complete the season sweep.
MORE: Marshall Park to host Mid-Ohio Spring Classic softball tournament
"Tournament atmosphere the last two nights," Galion coach Kenny Fagan said. "We knew we had some growing pains to overcome, and I thought we did a really good job competing with one of the premier programs in the area late both times. Our youthfulness catches up with us sometimes, but I'm really proud of how we played the last two days going punch-for-punch with those guys."
Highland knew the first half of the season could be challenging after losing Zach Church and Jayden Collins — the Scots' ace and No. 2 — on the mound which led to new faces needing to step up in various positions.
"Losing (them) as pitchers changes the way you prepare for the season, so we've had to change our approach on defense and we're still trying to find a little bit of our offensive identity," Highland coach Don Kline said. "The MOAC is a league that anybody can win on any given night ... there's a lot of good athletes and a lot of good coaches, if you don't have your A-Game on any given night you're going to go home with a loss."
And that almost happened Wednesday night as both pitchers, Highland's Zach Underwood and Galion's Kane Hay, threw great and had stellar defense back them up. The teams combined to strand 16 runners on base leading up to the final inning.
With one out, Collins was plunked and Branson Newsome followed with a bunt single before Church was intentionally walked to load the bases. Morgan Kline stepped up and skipped a ball off the wet grass in front of Galion's Brayden Harvey at third base scoring Collins and Newsome. An insurance run was added by Rhett Russ' pop-up to second that was dropped allowing Church to score.
"When you play good baseball teams like that ... you have to find different ways to win," Kline said. "I'm proud of our guys for the last two nights; yesterday we didn't do a very good job with ball security and defense, and we had a little more offense ... then today we played pretty good defense with Zach Underwood on the mound. We couldn't get the bats going, we left the whole city of Galion out there ... we had a lot of runners, just couldn't play them in.
"But in the end the baseball found its way through and that's why we get to go home a little happier than I'm sure they are."
Kurt Hay doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but never made it past second base.
"Anyone that has coached the game long enough knows high school baseball is a momentum game, and there's quite a few times where they took the momentum," Kline said. "Our guys tried to fight back through, and it was seven innings of fun baseball, it really was. If we played a third game tomorrow, I'm sure it would be another coin flip."
The Galion series marked the return of Church who had been sidelined with an injury. He was 0-for-2 on Tuesday with a walk and 1-for-2 with a run and a walk Wednesday.
"Getting him back was huge for us," Kline said. "Obviously we're being very careful with him, he's a college signee, but he's the heart and soul of our team and it just gives us a little bit of a boost. He hasn't seen live pitching since we were in Georgia three or four weeks ago, but I'm glad to have him back and I'm sure as a senior, he's excited to join up and play a fun series like this."
Highland remains atop the MOAC standings with a 5-1 record and series against River Valley, Clear Fork, Ontario, and Pleasant still to come. Galion falls two games back at 3-3 with Pleasant, River Valley, Marion Harding, and Clear Fork remaining in league play.
MORE: Clapper vintage, Shrader stays hot in Madison's walk off OCC win
"You look at your schedule when you make it in December and you're trying to figure out where you're going to be not knowing what your lineup looks like," Fagan said. "Playing these guys who are basically a baseball factory, you just never know what you're getting into.
"Our guys were up to the task, they play super hard, we battle ... we do all the stuff the recipe calls for to be successful. But you just gotta play perfect against those guys."
[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Highland sweeps Galion in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference baseball action
Continue reading...
Unfortunately for the Tigers, each of the last four meetings — including Wednesday night's clash — have ended with them coming up just short. Tuesday it was a 3-2 win for Highland thanks to two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and Wednesday it was much of the same as the Scots put up three in the top of the seventh for a 3-0 final to complete the season sweep.
MORE: Marshall Park to host Mid-Ohio Spring Classic softball tournament
"Tournament atmosphere the last two nights," Galion coach Kenny Fagan said. "We knew we had some growing pains to overcome, and I thought we did a really good job competing with one of the premier programs in the area late both times. Our youthfulness catches up with us sometimes, but I'm really proud of how we played the last two days going punch-for-punch with those guys."
Highland knew the first half of the season could be challenging after losing Zach Church and Jayden Collins — the Scots' ace and No. 2 — on the mound which led to new faces needing to step up in various positions.
"Losing (them) as pitchers changes the way you prepare for the season, so we've had to change our approach on defense and we're still trying to find a little bit of our offensive identity," Highland coach Don Kline said. "The MOAC is a league that anybody can win on any given night ... there's a lot of good athletes and a lot of good coaches, if you don't have your A-Game on any given night you're going to go home with a loss."
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And that almost happened Wednesday night as both pitchers, Highland's Zach Underwood and Galion's Kane Hay, threw great and had stellar defense back them up. The teams combined to strand 16 runners on base leading up to the final inning.
With one out, Collins was plunked and Branson Newsome followed with a bunt single before Church was intentionally walked to load the bases. Morgan Kline stepped up and skipped a ball off the wet grass in front of Galion's Brayden Harvey at third base scoring Collins and Newsome. An insurance run was added by Rhett Russ' pop-up to second that was dropped allowing Church to score.
"When you play good baseball teams like that ... you have to find different ways to win," Kline said. "I'm proud of our guys for the last two nights; yesterday we didn't do a very good job with ball security and defense, and we had a little more offense ... then today we played pretty good defense with Zach Underwood on the mound. We couldn't get the bats going, we left the whole city of Galion out there ... we had a lot of runners, just couldn't play them in.
"But in the end the baseball found its way through and that's why we get to go home a little happier than I'm sure they are."
Kurt Hay doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but never made it past second base.
"Anyone that has coached the game long enough knows high school baseball is a momentum game, and there's quite a few times where they took the momentum," Kline said. "Our guys tried to fight back through, and it was seven innings of fun baseball, it really was. If we played a third game tomorrow, I'm sure it would be another coin flip."
You must be registered for see images attach
The Galion series marked the return of Church who had been sidelined with an injury. He was 0-for-2 on Tuesday with a walk and 1-for-2 with a run and a walk Wednesday.
"Getting him back was huge for us," Kline said. "Obviously we're being very careful with him, he's a college signee, but he's the heart and soul of our team and it just gives us a little bit of a boost. He hasn't seen live pitching since we were in Georgia three or four weeks ago, but I'm glad to have him back and I'm sure as a senior, he's excited to join up and play a fun series like this."
Highland remains atop the MOAC standings with a 5-1 record and series against River Valley, Clear Fork, Ontario, and Pleasant still to come. Galion falls two games back at 3-3 with Pleasant, River Valley, Marion Harding, and Clear Fork remaining in league play.
MORE: Clapper vintage, Shrader stays hot in Madison's walk off OCC win
"You look at your schedule when you make it in December and you're trying to figure out where you're going to be not knowing what your lineup looks like," Fagan said. "Playing these guys who are basically a baseball factory, you just never know what you're getting into.
"Our guys were up to the task, they play super hard, we battle ... we do all the stuff the recipe calls for to be successful. But you just gotta play perfect against those guys."
[email protected] | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Highland sweeps Galion in Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference baseball action
Continue reading...
