By Chris Valentine
PBR Ohio Scouting Director

Pickerington, OH – Not even thirty minutes of rain could stop Watkins Memorial senior southpaw Daniel Sexton (Tiffin recruit) from a district final appearance.

Less than ten minutes into the game, Sexton, who struck out the first two Olentangy Liberty batters, found himself back in the dugout with his teammates after thunder, strong winds, and sideways rain brought the district semifinal to a halt.

When the game commenced, Sexton finished the inning by striking out junior Jake Niggemeyer (Ohio State recruit).

Sexton, who sat in the low-80s and mixed his speeds well infront of his future coach at Tiffin, and cruised through the first two innings before Liberty mounted a rally in the third.

Liberty junior catcher Mitchell Griffiths walked to start the inning. After registering another strikeout, Sexton allowed a double to the nine-hole hitter, Charlie Lutwen, putting runners at second and third.

Sexton fought back as he induced a groundball up the middle by leadoff hitter Danny Kirchner, but the senior couldn’t get in front of the ball and senior shortstop Charlie Schmidt was forced to take the second out of the inning at first as Liberty took a 1-0 lead.

With junior Louis Firmstone at the plate, Watkins Memorial senior catcher Derek Helbing (Washington and Jefferson recruit) picked Lutwen off third base with a quick snap throw to end the Liberty threat.

Meanwhile, Liberty junior right-handed pitcher Jake Niggemeyer continued to cruise through the first three innings, even setting down the first two batters in order at the start of the fourth inning.

But, after issuing a two-out walk to cleanup hitter Steven Asbury, Niggemeyer gave up a single to Jordan Miller putting runners on the corners.

With the pressure mounting, Niggemeyer attempted to pick off Miller at first base, but overthrew senior first baseman Max Gunn (Thiel recruit), which allowed Asbury to score and tie the game at 1-1.

Both pitchers and their defenses kept each other at bay in the fifth inning, but in the bottom of the sixth, Watkins Memorial nine-hole hitter Austin Swick singled to left. With one out, leadoff hitter Tony Winters (Ohio University recruit) drove a 0-2 fastball to the gap scoring Swick from first.

Watkins continued to put the pressure on in the bottom half of the fifth, but Niggemeyer stopped the bleeding and escape with a 2-1 deficit.

Liberty responded quickly in the top half of the sixth with a single by Kirchner. However, Firmstone’s sacrifice bunt proved to be too hard as Ben Shroyer executed a perfect throw to second to record the first out and keep the lead runner at first. Soon afterwards, Niggemeyer took first base after being hit by an 0-2 slider from Sexton.

With a 1-2 count, Sexton got Gunn to roll over a curveball and hit a soft ground ball in front of the mound, but the senior’s only play was at first base.

Left-handed hitting sophomore standout Cameron Comer, who struck out in his previous two at bats, approached the plate with two outs, runners in scoring position, and a chance to give Liberty the lead. 

But, the senior Sexton quickly got ahead in the count with two hard biting breaking balls down in the zone. After taking a 0-2 slider on the outer-half, Comer hit a soft line drive to Schmidt for the third out of the inning.

Niggemeyer blanked the Warriors in the bottom half of the sixth, setting the stage for the Patriots’ seventh inning rally.

Junior Marcus Wechselberger hit a double to lead off the inning and Griffiths followed with a sacrifice bunt to put a runner on third base with one out.

Matthaes, who attempted a squeeze, struck out swinging, bringing up Lutwen, who was 1 for 2 in his previous plate appearances.

Sexton attacked the nine-hole hitter getting ahead 0-2. But, Lutwen kept battling as he fouled off three consecutive pitches before working the count to 2-2.

On the eighth pitch of the at bat, Sexton came inside with a fastball to freeze Matthaes for a called third strike to end the game.

Sexton picked up the win as he struck out 11 batters while allowing one earned run, two walks, and one hit batter in a complete game effort. On the day, Liberty’s 1 through 5 hitters were a cobined 2 for 13 with two singles, a walk, and a HBP.

Niggemeyer took the loss, only allowing one earned run in six innings of work. He walked three while striking out five and allowing five hits.

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