Dylan Hefflinger
PBR Senior Writer and Northwest scout

TOLEDO - A wild three-and-a-half hour, 13-inning TRAC classic between No. 12 Division I Toledo St. Francis and Oregon Clay went to the Knights 2-1 on Friday.

Both teams were unable to put a run on the board in the first 12 innings of play even though each had multiple scoring opportunities, including suicide squeeze attempts and players being thrown out at second, third and home numerous times.  
But in the 13th inning, three hours after the first pitch of the game, the meat of the Clay lineup provided the first run of the contest. Two-hole hitter Bryce Castilleja, who came in hitting .429, reached on an error, advanced to second on the throw and later third on a wild pitch. Senior Lucas Robson was plunked and then stole second to put two runners in scoring position with none out. Senior Ty McAtee put the ball on the ground and sophomore second baseman Andy Okuley threw home to get Castilleja at the plate (picture below).

Senior Jordan Grosjean was up after the play at the plate and hit a deep fly ball scoring Robson from third with a sac fly to put Clay up 1-0.

The Knights would not go down quietly, however, in the bottom of the inning. Nine-hole hitter senior Joe White started the last of the 13th with a double to left-center field. Denison University recruit Eric Zmuda did his job advancing White to third on a ground out to Okuley at second. Unsigned senior Cody Lewis, a .409 hitter coming in, was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners.

Denison University recruit Matt Zmuda (Eric's twin) then roped a fly ball to deep center that hit off the end of the glove of Clay's center fielder. A relay throw from sophomore shortstop Ryan Fournier to third was low, bouncing out of play to score the second run and give the Knights a dramatic 2-1 walk-off win (celebration picture below). St. Francis is now 17-1 on the season.

 

Central Michigan recruit Grosjean (pictured left) did all he could in the game to give Clay a chance to win. The talented RHP went the maximum 10 innings on the bump allowing no runs on eight hits and three walks while racking up 12 punch-outs. The big 6-foot-3 righty sat in the 84-87 mph range with the fastball, topping out at 88. Grosjean also featured a sharp breaking curve between 72-75 that he consistently got across the plate. The righty also mixed in a change to keep the hitters off-balance. For the season Grosjean has now thrown 37 innings with 50 Ks.

Grosjean also had three singles and accounted for the only RBI of the game for Clay with a sac fly in the 13th.

St. Francis head coach Tim Gerken when speaking about facing Grosjean: "Well you are going to have to battle him, he is as good as there is in the area. What did we play, 13? We said it might go 10.... it's just one of those crazy games."

St. Francis used a little different approach on the mound, but with similar results. The Knights used six pitchers on the night - Kenzie Mayo, Matt Zmuda, Jake Long, Max Lyon, Kevin Greenoe and finishing with the winning pitcher Michael Wagner, who started the game as the catcher. The staff allowed just one run on six hits, four walks and two HBPs while striking out 10.

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

Please visit the Unsigned Senior Scouting Blog. The blog gets updated throughout the week.

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Linescore

Oregon Clay         000 000 000 000 1 - 1  6 0

Toledo St. Francis 000 000 000 000 2 - 2 11 4

Winning pitcher: Michael Wagner (1 1/3 innings, 1 run, 0 hits, 1 strikeouts, 1 HBP). Others: Kenzie Mayo, Matt Zmuda, Jake Lang, Max Lyon, Kevin Greenoe

Losing pitcher: Lucas Robson (3 innings, 2 runs, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 HBP). Other: Jordan Grosjean (10 innings, 0 runs, 8 hits, 12 strikeouts, 3 walks).

Leading hitters: (Clay, 5 hits) - Jordan Grosjean 3 singles. (St. Francis, 11 hits) - Eric Zmuda single, double; Matt Zmuda single, double; Max Lyon 2 singles; Nick Lankard 2 singles; Joe White double.