Alex Schillig
Regional Scout

HILLIARD, OH -- Thomas Worthington's Nick Pauley throws a stellar game, as they go on to win their district semi-final matchup. 

Two excellent pitchers took the mound when Thomas Worthington, and Dublin Jerome clashed.  The Cardinals sent junior Nick Pauley to the mound, and the Celtics handed the start to Jason Johnson (Dayton Commit).

Both teams were fired up as it would give them a chance to face the winner of Grove City, and Olentangy Lewis Center in the district final.  

The Jerome squad manufactured the first run of the game in the 2nd inning.  Masashi Sakamoto (Akron Commit), and Jason Johnson led off the inning, and both reached base with no outs.  Knowing runs might be hard to come by, Coach Huesman signaled senior Cam Willms to bunt, and successfully moved the runners to second and third.  Junior Tyler Bookmyer plated Sakamoto on an RBI groundout giving the Celtics a 1-0 lead.

With the lead, Celtics pitcher Jason Johnson kept cruising through the Cardinal lineup, as he didn't give up a hit through the first three innings.  

In the top of the 4th, Jerome looked to add more runs.  Starting the inning again was cleanup hitter Sakamoto, who struck a hard hit single.  After a balk and wild pitch, Sakamoto was sitting on third with no outs. Shortly after, Jason Johnson helped his cause by driving a sacrifice fly to center pushing their lead to 2-0.

With a two run deficit, the Thomas Worthington bats finally came alive in the bottom of the 4th.  Jerome pitcher Jason Johnson struggled with command, and loaded the bases with no outs giving the Cardinals life.  A wild pitch allowed the Cardinals to get on the board; then 7 and 8-hole hitters Sam Ankrom, and Tommy Pischel both recorded RBI singles giving Thomas Worthington a 3-2 lead.  The big blow came when leadoff hitter Nick Highley tripled to left center plating two Cardinal runners pushing the score to 5-2.

The five run inning took the wind out of the Celtics sail, and a comeback opportunity looked bleak as Cardinal pitcher Nick Pauley got stronger as the game progressed.

With the game in Pauley's hands, adrenaline kicked in as he mowed down the final Celtic hitters advancing his team to the district finals.

Pauley recorded a complete game victory with six strikeouts, and sat 85-87 mph.  In the 7th he ramped it up and stayed at 87 mph consistently.  

Thomas Worthington will go on to play Grove City tomorrow at Otterbein College.

Jerome head coach Chris Huesman is stepping down, and will now have more time to watch his son Aaron continue his career at the University of Dayton.  Chris had an outstanding coaching career including a state championship in '98 with Jonathan Alder.   

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

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