First year head coach Adam Taylor and his Chelsea Bulldogs entered Saturday’s district play with a 16-18 record.  First up for the Bulldogs was Tecumseh, who was the SEC White champion and finished the regular season at 29-4.  Seemingly this would be an uphill battle for the Bulldogs, and it didn’t help that they spotted Tecumseh seven runs early.

But Chelsea didn't give up.  In the bottom of the second inning they made their move.  Brad Hepler capped a five run second inning with a home run.  After Tecumseh added another run, Tyler Geiger hit a homerun of his own to put Chelsea up 9-8 in the bottom of the fifth.

Tecumseh’s Jacob Britt, a University of Toledo commit, joined in the long ball party by adding a solo shot to tie it up in the top of the sixth inning.  This see-saw affair finished as Chelsea pushed one final run across in the bottom half, and Alex Maloney finished his strong outing with three quick outs in the top of the seventh.  All told, Chelsea finished their first game with a hard fought 10-9 victory.

As a coach, you always wonder how your team will respond in game two of a doubleheader, especially when it is as emotional as game one was for Chelsea.  Will my team be flat?  Will we have enough left in the tank? Can we build on this?

In game two, Adrian sent junior lefthander Andrew Wood to the mound.  One of the better arms in the SEC, Wood lived up to his billing as he struck out 13 Bulldogs in 5 2/3 innings.  Adrian scraped out 4 runs, and with Wood cruising going into the seventh, it appeared as if the Maples would clinch the District Championship.  But Chelsea had a little bit more magic left. 

Tanner Starkey who drove in the winning run in the first game, started things off with a ball that was lost in the sun and fell safely.  Down to their last out, Brad Hepler singled in a run and that gave way to Bulldog starting pitcher Jarred Scheese, who smacked a game tying two run blast to right to send the game to extras.

Taylor then handed the ball junior Alex Maloney, who threw 5 plus innings in game one to get through the eighth and ninth innings.  In the bottom of the ninth, Chelsea worked to get the bases loaded with no outs.  Colton Platt came to the plate and delivered a walk of hit to send Chelsea to their first Regional since 2009.