By Chris Rutz

CINCINNATI, OH- The final matchup at Mason High School for the Division II District Championship was a game that pit No.14 ranked Tipp City Tippecanoe Red Devils against the Bellbrook Golden Eagles. After getting off to an early Bellbrook lead, a dramatic come from behind 7-6 victory allowed Tippecanoe to advance with big late inning rallying.

Tippecanoe sent senior right-hander Cameron Johnson with hopes of outlasting Bellbrook’s senior Riley Brown.

In the top of the first, Bellbrook’s first two batters reached base after an error and a walk. A double steal put runners at second and third with Bellbrook threatening early.

An odd, but efficient way to score a run then plated the first run of the ball game.

The runner on third, Chase Buttery, was caught in a pickle on a pickoff attempt forcing him to sprint home and creating a play at the plate. Buttery knocked the ball loose and scored. Casey Demko , the next runner attempted to score on the loose ball was tagged out ending the inning.

A leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt left Tippecanoe threatening with a man in scoring position in the bottom of the first.

Brown ended the threat by causing back-to-back fly outs and bringing  his team up in the top half of  the second.

In the top of the second, Bellbrook struck again with timely two out hitting. RBI singles by juniors, Joe Mezzanotte and Chase Buttery pushed their lead to 3-0.

The bottom half of the second would fly by as Brown only threw six pitches, bringing his two inning total to an efficient 14 pitches total.

Bellbrook continued to pad their lead in the top of the third inning. A leadoff double by junior catcher, Alex Fryman, a walk and a bunt single by senior Austin Hall loaded the bases for Bellbrook. A sacrifice fly and a Riley Brown RBI single pushed two more runs across putting Bellbrook ahead 5-0.

In the bottom of the third, Tippecanoe finally was able to get on the board with a bit of help from mother nature. After getting the first two outs, a routine fly ball out to right field seemed like it would end the inning, but the ball was caught in the sun allowing  a runner to reach base. Junior shortstop, Zach Blair scored the runner when putting a ball down the left field line for a double. Tippecanoe entered the fourth still trailing 5-1.

In the top of the fourth, junior Infielder Casey Demko demonstrated how valuable speed and aggressive base running could be an asset. After reaching base on a catcher’s interference, Demko was in motion when the designated hitter, sophomore Cody Clark smoked a ball past the first basemen’s glove on an error. Demko reached third and read the outfielder’s throw to the cutoff man to take home and score another Bellbrook run.

Bellbrook seemed to be comfortably ahead as they took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth.

Tippecanoe started to chip away in the bottom half when a leadoff triple by freshman, Justyn Eichbaum paid off  following an RBI single by fellow freshman, Brad Calhoun. The 6-2 lead for Bellbrook still seemed  a long way off entering the top of the fifth.

Nothing happened for Bellbrook in the top of the fifth and Tippecanoe continued to creep back into the game after junior, Austin Clack scored on a throwing error by Bellbrook in the bottom half.

In the top of the 6^th, Tippecanoe freshman right-hander Aaron Hughes started to find his groove as Bellbrook went down in order once again. 

Hughes gave his team a chance in the bottom of the sixth still trailing 6-3, and a chance was all they needed.

In the bottom of the sixth, leadoff singles by junior, Evan Gilliam and freshman, Brad Calhoun allowed a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Bellbrook brought in junior right-hander Josh Rogers.

A Bellbrook throwing error, followed by a Blair single down the line plated the go ahead run for Tippecanoe.

Leading 7-6 entering the last inning, three outs were needed to complete the comeback.

For the last three outs, Tippecanoe turned to their ace, Ben Hughes. Hughes struck the first two batters out on three straight fast balls each.

Hughes walked the next hitter and a stolen base put the tying run on second base with two outs.

Hughes had enough of the threat and ended the game and Bellbrook’s season with the third and final strikeout.

Tippecanoe completed the 7-6 comeback win and now looks forward to facing Monroe in the regional championship.

To view scouting notes from this game, please visit the Ohio High School Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

To discuss this game, please visit our partner JJHuddle.

 

LineScore

Bellbrook     122  100  0  -  6

Tippecanoe  001  114  x  -  7

Notable Pitchers

Winning Pitcher-’17 Hughes- 3 2/3 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 3 K

Losing Pitcher ’15 Rogers- 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 4 hits, 3 K

Other-Save- Tippecanoe- ’14 Hughes- 1 IP, 3 K

Notable Hitters

Bellbrook- ’15 Demko (2 singles, 2 SB), ’15 Fryman (double), ’14 Brown (single, RBI)

Tippecanoe- ’15 Blair (single, double, 2 RBIs), ’14 Johnson (2 singles), ’17 Eichbaum (Triple)