LCC moves closer to NWC baseball title

BATH TOWNSHIP - When you put good pitching, clutch hitting, and solid defense together in the same game, good things are going to happen.

Lima Central Catholic got strong performances in all three of those categories in a 7-2 high school baseball win over Columbus Grove on Monday night.

The result was at least a tie for the Northwest Conference baseball title for the Thunderbirds.

"We wanted to put it all together tonight," LCC coach John Schnieders said. "We've had games this season where we had two of the three, but tonight we got great pitching, good defense and timely hitting."

Columbus Grove came into the game undefeated in the NWC at 5-0.  LCC now stands at 12-8 overall and 8-0 in the NWC.

T-Bird pitching ace Travis Kottenbrock was in control from the beginning as he struck out 11 Bulldogs hitters, gave up four hits, and walked none. Kottenbrock improved his record to 7-0 on the season.

The Thunderbirds jumped out a quick 1-0 lead when Sean Gronas led off the first inning with a walk, was sacrificed to second and scored when clean-up hitter Gavin Saine drove him home with a double to deep left field.

LCC stretched the lead to 2-0 when Gronas doubled in the third and scored on an error.

Kottenbrock, meanwhile, was cruising along and had recorded six strike-outs through the first four innings while giving up only a harmless wind-aided double.

The T-Birds then put the game out of reach when they exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on two hit batters and four base hits.

Gronas, Joel Stolly, Kottenbrock and Saine all delivered RBI's in the big inning that ended with LCC leading 6-0.

"We knew we had to play flawless to win." Columbus Grove coach Cory King said. "We got behind early and that is tough against one of the best pitchers around."

Bulldog catcher Garret Wolfe connected for a two-run home run to deep left field in the top of the sixth inning to deprive Kottenbrock of the shutout.

Gronas, the LCC second baseman, had a big offensive night to lead the T-Bird attack. He was three for three with two singles, a double and a walk with three runs scored.

"We haven't got a lot of breaks all season." Gronas said. "We've gotten hits but not at the right time, we were able to do that tonight."

LCC travels to Crestview Thursday night to face the Knights. A win would give the T-birds sole possession of the league title.

"We were doing the things tonight that you need to do to win big league and tournament games." Schnieders said.

The T-Birds open tournament play Saturday at Coldwater against Bath.