When Doc Wieland took over as head baseball coach at Bishop Fenwick High School, he knew he had a talented team that could go places after some tournament experience last year.
Wieland was right. The Falcons are going north next week to the Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournament after a thrilling walk-off win in the regional finals.
Fenwick (22-8) edged Roger Bacon (21-9) 5-4 in the Division IV, Region 16 final at Day Air Ballpark, home of the Dayton Dragons. It is Fenwick’s first regional title since 1982.
They will play in the state semifinals June 13 in Akron against Richmond Edison or Lancaster Fairfield Union, who played later June 4. First pitch is 1 p.m. June 13.
Fenwick scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to come from behind. With the bases loaded, senior Boyd Westerfield hit a grounder to the hole in shortstop. Bacon freshman Grayson Spears threw home but junior Isaac Barker beat the throw to score the winning run.
Fenwick came from behind in the seventh for the second time in a week after rallying from two runs down to beat Urbana in the district final.
“We did it before,” Westerfield said. “Urbana, I thought we were out. We scored five runs in the seventh, and we got the job done against Urbana. We know we got more, and that’s exactly what we did there.”
Westerfield, No. 6 in the order, just wanted to put a good swing on the ball.
“That’s exactly what I was going for. I was just looking for that fastball to drive. Got the job done,” he said. “I’ve been in a slump recently. Glad I could do it for us.”
Fenwick trailed 4-3 with the top of the order coming up. Hudson Kreke was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Sophomore Carter Shouse singled to left, his third hit of the game. Barker bunted to third base and placed it well enough that he easily made it to first.
“We get our first two guys on, and then Barker, our three hole, has been one of our best hitters,” Wieland said. “He had a tough AB (last time), took a third strike. He went up there. He was wanting to hit, but we got to bunt in that situation. That’s good baseball. And he just executed a perfect bunt. Forgot about his last AB.”
The cleanup hitter, senior Jackson Kauffman, hit a hard groundball to third baseman Terrance Todd, who threw Kreke out at home.
Senior Jude McCullough singled to left, scoring Shouse for the tying run, sending Westerfield up with the bases loaded and one out for the winner.
“It’s special. One through nine, one through nine. Incredible players. We have the most talented roster I’ve seen,” Westerfield said. “Unbelievable, amazing. It means so much as a senior. Our whole team, it means so much to our coach. It means so much to everyone. I love it.”
Another senior, Ty Miller, got the win in relief after coming on in the second inning for Fenwick ace Carter Shouse.
Shouse left the mound in the second inning after throwing one pitch to the third batter of the frame.
Wieland and a trainer came to the mound to check on him. After a few minutes, he went to right field as senior Miller warmed up on the mound to replace him.
Wieland said it’s likely forearm tightness in his left throwing arm, which he has dealt with before.
“He’s such a tough kid. I knew something had to be bothering him,” Wieland said. “He’s a strong kid. I’ve never coached a kid that’s a harder worker.”
Shouse hit a batter and walked one in his brief time on the bump. Miller came in pitching 21 innings for the year, allowing 10 hits and striking out 30 with an ERA of 1.94.
Miller started in right field and got a full pitching warmup before play resumed. Wieland said his first choice was junior Anthony Snyder, who pitched two days ago in the regional semis, but he had let Snyder go one pitch over the allowed limit and couldn’t pitch Thursday. Miller stepped up.
“Ty knew he was going to be in relief, but we had talked about him warming up later in the game if we needed him,” Wieland said. “To his credit, he came in right from right field, like he has two or three times, and been huge for us.”
Fenwick gave Miller a lead in the bottom of the third. Junior Nick Bachmann was retired as second baseman D.C. Gipson made a great running catch behind the bag. Conner Enderle, the No. 9 hitter, singled and went to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a single by leadoff hitter Hudson Kreke, who eventually went to third. Shouse was walked intentionally, then Isaac Barker plated Kreke on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Senior Jackson Kauffman, the cleanup batter, singled in Shouse to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.
Bacon scored four in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs on a walk, hit batter and single by Terrance Todd, their first hit. With the bases loaded, senior Kyle Miller hit a triple to right center that just eluded the two outfielders to score three. Senior Ian Childress hit a single through the hole to left field to put the Spartans ahead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Shouse doubled with one out off reliver Colin Schulte. Schulte walked a batter with two outs but retired Jude McCullough on a grounder to end the threat.
Ty Miller shrugged off that big inning. In the seventh, he allowed a triple to lead off the inning, to Bacon’s leadoff hitter, Ben Powers. Miller struck out the next two batters and got the next to fly out to give Fenwick a chance to win it.
“I know Carter’s obviously our dude, and we want him out there, but I knew that I was going come in, put the ball over the plate, and just give us an opportunity to go deep in this game,” Miller said. “I just knew that as a senior and that this possibly could have been my last game out here on the baseball field, I just knew that I had to give everything that I had. I knew that my guys obviously were going play defense behind me and I knew we had it in us.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fenwick walks off Roger Bacon to win regional baseball championship
Reporting by James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By James Weber, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
