Best laid plans of mice and baseball coaches?
With starting pitcher Chase Taylor looking to face a tough Liberty lineup for the fourth time, Westminster coach Brad Taylor inserted reliever Brandon Barrett on the mound in the top of the seventh inning with one down and one on base in a tied ballgame.
That decision looked to be the right one as Barrett worked a groundout and then struck out Lions clean-up hitter Danny Nelson to close the top of the seventh. Unfortunately for Taylor, Barrett and the rest of the Owls, that nasty strike in the dirt got away from the catcher, allowing Nelson to reach first base. Five batters later, the visiting Lions built what turned out to be an insurmountable five-run lead that eventually resulted in a 7-3 victory Monday afternoon.
“Fourth time through the lineup, the leadoff [hitter] barrelled that ball, and we were pretty much at the top of our pitch limit and give them a different look. And to be honest, the plan worked out,” Coach Taylor said. “We executed the plan. It’s just unfortunate it didn’t go our way.”
Nelson’s dropped third strike, which came after Carter Shanks was intentionally walked, loaded the bases for the Lions (10-1) with two down. That’s when Braeden Chubb sent a bounding ball up the middle that just eluded the outstretched glove of shortstop Paul Burgee and into center field, scoring Logan Garey and courtesy runner Justin Herbert for a 4-2 lead.
“He wasn’t finding the zone, and his curveball was hitting the dirt, and I just tried to put the ball back right where it came from or to the right side,” Chubb said. “We just needed one [run] and two scored. We had tons of opportunities at the beginning. Little things like base running and some calls didn’t go our way. For us to come out and have that inning was just huge to finally pounce on them.”
After Aidan Scherr drew a walk, Tanner Kane was hit by a pitch to force in Liberty’s fifth run of the game and third in the inning. Sean Crochunis then worked a bases-loaded walk and Brady Freiert reached on an error to fuel the final two runs of the five-run rally.
The host Owls (8-4) made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh, scoring once and loading the bases with No. 3 hitter Will Mollman at the plate. But Shanks, who went the distance on the mound, got a called third strike on an 0-2 pitch to end the contest.
“I’ve seen a lot of these guys before, especially last year, and my approach today was just pound the zone and get ahead of every batter,” said Shanks, who struck out six, including two in the seventh. “We’re playing as a team. Everybody is working together and being a team.”
Liberty opened the scoring in the second as Nelson reached on an error, took second on a sacrifice bunt, reached third in a groundout, then scored on a soft line drive single to left field by Kane.
The Owls came right back in the bottom of the second with a run of their own. Burgee doubled down the left field line, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor, and then touched home on a suicide squeeze bunt by Griffin Vincent that Shanks could not field cleanly in time to cut down Burgee. Shanks did, however, throw out Vincent on the play to limit more potential damage.
The Lions looked to retake the lead in the top of the inning, loading the bases with one out. Chase Taylor worked out of it unscathed as he picked off Herbert after a mound visit from Coach Taylor before getting Chubb out on a pop-up to second base to end the threat.
“That’s something we put a lot of effort into in practice, the details of the game,” Coach Taylor said. “We saw it; we called it, and they executed it. I couldn’t more proud of my guys. We battled; it just didn’t go our way today.”
Chase Taylor was unable to work out of similar trouble in the fifth as three batters reached base en route to a 2-1 Lions lead. Garey started things by reaching first on a third-strike wild pitch. He later scored on an infield single off the bat of Nelson. Burgee made an impressive diving stop in the hole on Nelson’s groundball, but he was unable to record an out on the play.
Taylor and Vincent reached base in a single and walk, respectively, to start the bottom of the fifth, but Shanks recorded three straight outs on a bunt pop-out, a strikeout looking, and a groundball to second base to preserve the narrow Liberty lead.
One inning later, the Owls knotted the score at 2-2 on a double to right field by Burgee. His high fly ball sailed away from the Liberty right fielder Colin Martin and toward the foul line to bring home Mollman, who worked a two-out walk in the prior at-bat. Martin came up just short of snagging the ball on his diving attempt.
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