Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

ZANESVILLE - Waverly found a way to defeat West Holmes 3-2 after being down 2-0 against the talented Louisville recruit Dillon "Butch" Baird.

The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Baird worked a walk and came around to score on a triple to right field by Wright State commit Gabe Snyder, who scored on a fielder's choice. Keaton Leppla hit a comebacker to the mound and Waverly pitcher Pierce Knisely threw wide to third trying to catch Snyder off the bag, allowing him to score the second run.

Knisely settled down after the first and didn't allow another hit until Vayden Wood singled with one out in the sixth. Those were the only two hits the Knights collected for the game.

Waverly scratched out a run in the third inning, as Knisely reached on an error and moved to third on a single by Tyler Nartker. Adam Tiu drove Knisely home with a sacrifice fly.

The Tigers tacked on two more unearned runs, making the most of two Knights errors in the fifth inning. Leadoff hitter Paul Underwood singled, was sacrificed to second and scored when Leppla threw wildly to first on a ground ball in the hole by Eric Rinehart.

Tiu followed with a bloop shot over the infield that Leppla tracked down in short center field, but was unable to haul in, scoring Rinehart.

The Knights didn't go down without a fight, however, as Levi Jones opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a hard shot to third that was booted for an error. Josh Carsner pinch ran and Scott Troyer sacrificed him to second. Colton Shane hit a hard grounder to the hole at short that was also misplayed, giving the Knights runners at first and second with one out. Devin DeHass pinch ran for Shane.

After a groundout to second that advanced the runners to second and third with two out, Jonathan Clark laced a shot back at the mound that Knisely knocked down, fielded, and fired to first to set off a celebration for the Tigers.

West Holmes bows out with a 19-9 record, while Waverly (23-7) advances to face Harrison Central (22-6) on Friday in the regional finals. The Huskies blanked Warren 3-0.