COLUMBUS GROVE – Lincolnview baseball coach Eric Fishpaw didn’t think the Lancers’ No. 1 pitcher Dane Ebel had his best stuff during an 8-0 win over Columbus Grove in a match-up of Northwest Conference leaders on Thursday.
Ebel agreed with him. But Columbus Grove’s hitters would probably cast a dissenting vote after the senior right-hander threw a complete game 3-hitter with 11 strikeouts against them.
Ebel’s work on the mound and a five-run third inning by the Lancers were the two big stories in the game.
Coming from behind against Ebel, who was undefeated as a junior and threw a one-hitter in a state semifinal, is not easy any time. Doing it from five runs down is even harder.
Lincolnview (10-1, 4-0 NWC) is now alone at the top of the conference standings. Columbus Grove (11-3, 3-1 NWC) had been the only other team still unbeaten in the conference before Thursday.
The Lancers also had one of their best offensive games this season with nine hits, led by Austin Bockrath who went 3 for 4 and and Ebel, who had a triple and singled to drive in his team’s first two runs of the game.
“We were waiting for a breakout game like this,” Fishpaw said. “We’ve been scoring three runs, four runs, five runs. It was a complete team effort today. And it all started with a sacrifice bunt in that inning where we got five runs.”
That sacrifice bunt was surrounded by three Lincolnview hits and three Columbus Grove errors in the top of the third inning in what was until that point a scoreless game.
The third inning started with Chayse Overholt reaching base on an error. The next batter, Holden Price, put down a sacrifice bunt, which Columbus Grove pitcher Brenton Renner fielded and his throw to second base to try to get Overholt out sailed into centerfield.
The Bulldogs’ coach, Brayden Sautter, said there was a good reason for Renner’s off-target throw.
“His cleat broke as he went to make the throw and he threw it into right-center. How often does that happen? When stuff happens you’ve got to be able to bounce back and toughen up and make the next play and we just didn’t do it that inning,” Sautter said.
“One bad inning against them is all it takes, especially with Ebel on the mound. He’s tough.”
After the throwing error, Ebel singled to give Lincolnview a 2-0 lead. Bockrath and Evan Miller followed that hit with singles to load the bases and two more runs scored on another error, the third of the inning. A squeeze bunt by Myles Moody scored the fifth run.
“We’re better than that. It doesn’t happen very often,” Sautter said about Columbus Grove’s defensive struggles. “Unfortunately, it happened tonight in a game where you can’t afford it.”
Ebel was part of a dynamic duo of pitchers at Lincolnview last year along with Landon Price, now a freshman on Ohio State’s baseball team.
“This is his time. It’s his senior year. And I don’t even think he had his good stuff today, to be honest,” Fishpaw said about Ebel.
“But he was able to dominate against a really, really good opponent and I couldn’t be prouder of his efforts on the mound and of his counterpart behind the plate, Miles Moody, today.”
Ebel said, “I wasn’t finding the strike zone very well today. But if it did go in the strike zone my defense behind me was making plays. That was a big factor in the game today.”
Lincolnview won the Northwest Conference in 2022 and 2021. There was no spring sports season in Ohio in 2020 and the Lancers have not lost an NWC game since 2019. They were Division IV state runner-up last year and in 2021.
The focus, for now at least, is on winning another NWC title, Ebel said.
“One of the main goals is to win the NWC outright. This game was a big step toward that goal. We’ll worry about those other ones later,” he said.
Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.
