CANTON — Players and coaches from the Jackson High School baseball team gathered around first base at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium. Some held their hands on their hips with many of them standing nearly motionless.
The Polar Bears had just fallen in a 1-0 fast-moving pitchers duel to Perrysburg in a Division I regional final on Thursday, June 4.
Despite the result, Jackson head coach Bill Gamble was proud of the way his group bounced back to finish the season at 20-9 after starting 8-8.
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“All year long, we were battling through injuries, lineup changes, guys in and out, and position changes,” Gamble said. “With the core leadership of this group, you saw what we did in the last month of the season. We played to what we knew we could. That’s a testament to the leadership of this group, role players stepping up. And doing an amazing job staying locked in every inning.”
Jackson junior starter Brody Folk and Perrysburg senior Andrew Charpie each went the distance. A day after Perrysburg won in 11 innings, Charpie gave up five hits and struck out five.
Folk surrendered just four hits and struck out four. He picked off two baserunners including Brayden Heitmeyer in the seventh.
“I think he kept us off balance,” said Perrysburg head coach Dave Hall. “He threw well. We like to run. He took away the running game. He picked off one of the best players in the state of Ohio with Heitmeyer there. He pitched his heart out. It’s too bad he had to lose. Somebody had to, but he threw really well.”
“We played hellacious defense today to keep us in it,” Gamble said. “Folk did a wonderful job of holding their runners. We controlled their small ball and their running game which they’re really good at. We had the ability to at least keep us in the game. We needed a ball or two to fall and we couldn’t get the ball to touch the turf.”
Jackson also did not have senior pitcher Landon Thiel, an Ohio State recruit and potential MLB Draft pick, who Gamble said “unavailable” for the regional final.
A medium sized, high-energy crowd tried to spark rallies on both sides. A Perrysburg fan constantly shouted “Here we go,” before leading a clap that crescendoed on the third-base side.
The only run came in the bottom of the third. Perrysburg sophomore Dexter Arbinger smacked a double to the right field wall. Senior JD Zeeb reached on an infield single. Then, with most of the infield playing in, senior Ryan Rettig grounded out to short to score Arbinger.
“Their infield was in except for the shortstop,” Hall said. “I go ‘if it’s hit to short… go, go, go, go.’ I couldn’t get it out of my mouth quick enough when he hit it to short. They had no play at home which I was surprised they weren’t everybody in.”
Jackson loaded the bases in the third and sixth but couldn’t score. With one out in the sixth, Luke Leatherberry singled, Clayton Macaluso walked and Brady Morton singled. But Perrysburg right fielder Mason Kessinger settled under a fly ball and fired it to catcher Asher Lattimore. The throw was well ahead of Leatherberry trying to score on the would-be sacrifice fly.
“That’s big,” Hall said. “That’s ballgame right there. He’s thrown out about five this year so that didn’t surprise me.”
Nico Kuty socked a leadoff single in the seventh, but Charpie retired three in a row to help Perrysburg advance to next week’s state semifinal in Akron.
The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jackson baseball’s impressive turnaround ends in regional finals
Reporting by Walt Doerschuk, Correspondent / The Repository
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By Walt Doerschuk, Correspondent | USA TODAY Network
