Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

HAMLER - Talented junior catcher/pitcher Clay Pittman ropes a grand slam, after Northwood cut into the Rams lead in the inning prior, to leave no doubt that the Rams were headed to Columbus for the third straight year.

No. 4-ranked Tinora went on to defeat Northwood 13-5.

The grand slam came just as a hard rain was setting in and two batters later the game was delayed for 33 minutes.

Early on Tinora made it look easy, scoring three runs in the first, led by freshman Dakota Stark, who ripped a two-out RBI single. Gifted sophomore E.J. Kissel and talented freshman Brevin Renollet, who each had three singles in the game, also had base hits in the frame.

The Rams upped the advantage to 4-0 in the second when Austin Mahan led off with a sharp single to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Logan Dickerson. Kissel followed with a line drive single to right-center field which plated Mahan.

The Rams pounded out 14 hits with eight of the nine starters getting at least one hit.

The Rams are hot right now and have scored at least 11 runs in all five tournament games.

It starts on Friday when the fourth-ranked team in the state by Prep Baseball Report takes on No. 17-ranked New Middletown Springfield in the state semifinals at 1 p.m. The other contest is between No. 11 Newark Catholic and No. 23 Convoy Crestview.

In the preseason poll Newark Catholic was ranked No. 2, Tinora No. 3 and New Middletown Springfield No. 4.

LINESCORE

Tinora 311 007 1 - 13 14 2

Northwood 000 300 2 - 5 5 4

Records: Tinora 19-7, Northwood 18-11.

Winning pitcher: Clay Pittman (6 innings, 3 runs, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Dylan Rumbaugh.

Losing pitcher: Justin Rohrs (5 innings, 6 runs, 9 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks, 1 HBP). Others: Jacob Daveport, John Segura.

Leading hitters: (Tinora, 14 hits) - E.J. Kissel 3 singles, 3 runs; Clay Pittman single, home run, 5 RBIs; Brevin Renollet 3 singles. (Northwood, 5 hits) - Nick Russell single, double; Myles Habel double.