FINDLAY — Liberty-Benton held off visiting Elmwood, 6-3, to finish the Blanchard Valley Conference undefeated and defend last year’s title, winning the championship outright.
The Eagles, ranked third in the Division III state poll, improve to 19-3 overall and 8-0 in the BVC, while Elmwood falls to 19-9 and 5-3.
If Elmwood could have made the Eagles slip up, there was a chance the Eagles would be stuck sharing the crown with Van Buren.
The Eagles pulled through with a lot of small ball, including four bunt singles, and the pitching of Jarrett Haan and Seth Elchert holding the Royals to four hits. Elmwood started its ace, Jimmie Palmer.
“We knew coming in this was going to be a real tough game,” L-B coach Matt Rader said. “They have some real good arms, they hit it really well. It is hard to go undefeated in any league, so we’re proud of that.”
L-B’s first two batters, Ashton Crawford and Conner Hiss, scored after reaching on a walk and a bunt single.
In the second, Haan reached on a base hit to right field, stole second, and scored on an RBI double to center field by Hiss. Hiss scored when Trevin Lieb doubled, finding a gap in left-center field. Just like that, the Eagles were up, 4-0.
The Royals played catch up the rest of the way, but had baserunners in every inning after the second, and runners in scoring position every inning after the second except the sixth.
In the seventh, after the Eagles put up an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 6-3, Elmwood’s Andrew Holland reached on a walk and advanced to second on a base hit to center field by Colton Bradford.
But both Elmwood runners were stranded as Seth Elchert got Owen Simmons to fly out to center field for the game’s final out.
“We got ahead early, which helped us, and then we were able to make some outs there at the end and push a run across late to help us out,” Rader said.
In the top of the fourth, the Royals had the bases loaded with two outs when Palmer hit into a fielders’ choice.
But when L-B second baseman Mason Modd took the throw from Hiss, the shortstop, to get Landon Snow out on a force, the field umpire ruled that Modd’s foot was off the bag, allowing Simmons to score from third.
That would have made the score 5-4, and the Royals would have still had the bases loaded with one of their best hitters, Andrew Holland, approaching the plate.
But Rader approached the field umpire to discuss the play, and the field umpire in turn discussed the play with the home plate umpire, who reversed the decision, ruling that Modd’s foot was on the bag, Snow was out, and the inning was over.
“The home plate umpire said he had the better angle, I guess,” Elmwood first-year coach Matt Malecha said. “Let’s give credit to the shortstop — he made a heck of a play to get there in the first place.
“He made a good throw and from there, that is the call they came up with. That call doesn’t lose us the game. We had our opportunities. We’re never going to blame one play, and that is what they saw.”
It would have been Palmer’s only hit had his shot gotten past the shortstop, but he went 0-for-3 with a walk. On the mound, he struck out five, walked three, and allowed eight hits and four earned runs.
Bradford went 2-for-4, Simmons doubled, and Zach Gross had the Royals’ other hit, a single to center field in the third inning.
Kameron Kingery reached three times on walks, Luke Armbruster reached after getting hit by a pitch, and Gross and Holland also reached on walks.
Hiss led L-B at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and stolen base, Lieb was 2-for-3 with a double and two stolen bases, and Haan and Modd were both 2-for-3.
Malecha is proud that his team finished with a .625 winning percentage (5-3) in their first year in the BVC, although the team had its goals set a little higher.
“I thought overall we competed very well,” Malecha said. “I think we had a goal to probably finish a little better than we did, but it’s our first year getting used to some of these teams and we knew it was going to be a tough league.
“We knew Liberty-Benton was probably the team to beat and they are the deserving champion, obviously, going undefeated, which in any league is tough,” Malecha continued. “I think we wished we’d have finished a little better, but it was a good league with some good teams at the top.”
The Royals prepare for the D-III tournament with non-league regular season games Wednesday at Ottawa Hills (5 p.m.), Thursday at Perrysburg (5 p.m.) and hosting Genoa on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We have a really tough week starting today. We play some really good teams coming up, so they’ll test us and hopefully get us tournament ready,” Malecha said.
“Perrysburg, Ottawa Hills and Genoa, so three good teams, and our district is very stacked. There is not a single team in our district that we can show up and not play well in order to beat.”
Elmwood begins D-III tournament action on Wednesday, May 15 hosting Spencerville at 5 p.m., with the winner playing at Wayne Trace on Friday, May 17 at 5 p.m. for the right to advance to the district semifinals.
Wayne Trace, which knocked off top-ranked and previously undefeated Eastwood in last year’s regional tournament, is ranked 18th in the state poll.
“So we know the district’s tough, we are going to have to play really good baseball and hopefully, we learn from a day like today and we’ll get better,” Malecha said. “We know with this group we have a pretty strong group and if we play our best baseball, I’ll take our chances.”
