In front of a packed crowd of supporters, the West Branch baseball team brought home its first ever OHSAA state title with a thrilling 3-2 come from behind victory over the Badin Rams on Sunday at Canal Park in Akron. The Warriors trailed Badin, who had yet to allow a run in the tournament, 2-0 in the seventh inning before scoring three runs to take the lead and holding on in the bottom half for the victory. The Warriors finish the record setting year with a 28-6 record while Badin closed its season at 27-7.
In the seventh inning, the Rams brought in their closer, a side arm pitcher who was making his 16th appearance on the season. After taking a strike, Charlie Biskup hit a ball off the end of the bat toward second, but the spin of the ball caused it to take a weird hop that eluded the Rams second baseman giving Biskup a hit and setting the offense in motion. Jaxon Robb followed with a four pitch walk putting the tying run on base with no one out. Maddox Coleman pinch ran for Biskup at second with Gavin Bell at the plate. Bell laid down a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt moving the runners into scoring position for Boston Mulinix. Mulinix hit a ball toward first base and used his speed to beat out an infield single scoring Coleman and cutting the Badin lead in half. With Aaron Tucker at the plate, Mulinix stole second. With the infield back, Tucker hit a ground ball to second, scoring Robb, and tying the game at two. The groundout also allowed Mulnix to move to third base. On the ensuing pitch, the ball got away from the Badin catcher and Mulinix sprinted home with the go ahead run for the Warriors.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Warriors and pitcher Anthony Perry, had to deal with the dangerous 2-3-4 Ram hitters. Perry got flyouts from the first two batters of the inning, but the #4 hitter in the Ram lineup hit a double off the right field wall putting the tying run into scoring position. Perry, and the Warriors were not going to be denied however, as he forced the next hitter to pop the ball up on the right side and Warrior first baseman Tucker caught the ball in foul territory, giving the Warriors its first baseball state championship!
Perry was solid all game long as he scattered five hits while walking five while picking up his 9th win of the season (9-0). Both of Badin's runs came in innings when they did not get a hit as Perry and the defense stepped up their game when the pressure was on. No time was bigger than in the bottom of the second inning. Badin loaded the bases with one out looking to blow the game open in the early innings. Perry induced an inning ending ground ball double play to Mulinix who stepped on the bag and threw to Tucker at first, killing the Ram rally.
The Warriors would load the bases in the top of the third inning after a walk by Robb, a hit by pitch by Mulinix, and another hit by pitch by Hunter Shields. Badin was able to force Beau Alazaus into a ground ball to second ending the inning. After the second, the Warriors struggled offensively until Alazaus singled in the fifth inning, but the Warriors were unable to score.
The victory caps off a record breaking season for the baseball squad as a number of individual and team records were eclipsed. It is a season that the whole community will remember along with seniors Beau Alazaus, Hunter Shields, Aaron Tucker, Gavin Bell, and Jaxon Robb who were able to do something that no West Branch baseball team has ever done......Win a State Championship!!
Records Broken:
Individual:
Pitching Wins in a Season: Beau Alazaus-11
Innings Pitched in a Season: Beau Alazaus- 81.1
At Bats in a Season: Aaron Tucker 110
Team:
Wins- 28
Games Played- 34
Win %- .824
Fielding %- .960
At Bats- 907
Triples (Tied)- 19
Walks- 135
Stolen Bases (Tied)- 102
Innings Pitched- 236
