Elida’s Brady Kirk secures an out during Wednesday’s Division II sectional semifinal at Shawnee. See more high school baseball photos at LimaScores.com.
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — The stakes have gone up, and Elida responded.
The Bulldogs defeated Shawnee 6-1 in a Division II sectional baseball semifinal Wednesday night, scoring most of their runs in the second inning and controlling matters from there.
Elida (7-17) got a complete game from Camden Howard, who allowed three hits on the day. He struck out eight and walked three.
“He’s been really good the last half of the year,” Elida coach Todd Grapner said. “He stepped up big time and that’s what you expect seniors to do.”
At the plate, Elida’s Brice Engle drove in two runs, and Gabe Adcock and Brady Kirk each drove in one. The other two runs were in the fifth inning and were unearned. Seth Sharp had two hits as well. Elida will face Upper Sandusky in a sectional final Friday.
Shawnee ends the 2023 season with a record of 9-16. Starter Jaden Wheeler gave up four runs on five hits in 1 ⅓ innings. Carder Daily pitched 4 ⅓ innings, allowing two runs. He struck out eight, while walking three and hitting two others. Blake Reaman got the final four outs.
Reaman had a double and scored the only run for the Indians. Derek Lyons walked twice and reached on an error. The other hits were by Daily and Caleb Bacome.
Shawnee coach Joe Bender said that “(Elida) made the plays and we didn’t. All credit to them.”
Elida had a walk and a single in its first at-bat, while Shawnee put Lyons aboard on a walk with two outs. However, all were left aboard.
Wheeler gave up a bloop single into shallow right by Sharp to lead off the second. Zach Suever moved him to second with a sac bunt. An error and a single to right by Larkin Henderson loaded the bases for the Bulldogs.
Engle, the leadoff hitter, then roped a single past short and into left to drive in Sharp and Howard. Henderson went to third, and Engle advanced to second as the ball was relayed back in.
Adcock then executed a squeeze bunt with Henderson racing in to score. Another single from Kirk plated Engle to make it 4-0.
Bender then went out and moved Daily to the mound. He was able to get two strikeouts and end the inning.
Reaman started the home half with the first hit for Shawnee, a double to the gap in left-center. After Daily struck out, Reaman was awarded third while Noah Neth was at the plate due to a balk by Howard. Neth’s fly to center was caught, but it was far enough out to allow Reaman to get the Indians on the board. Keegan Wilson was hit by a pitch, but a lineout to short by Bacome ended the frame.
Each side left one man on in the third. Elida threatened in the fourth. Engle got a leadoff walk. After a comeback and strikeout by Daily, he walked Ryan McGue and plunked Tyler Carter to load the bases. He was then able to get Sharp on strikes to escape without damage.
In the bottom half, Daily had a single to left-center with one down. He then took second on a passed ball. Neth hit a grounder to third. Rather than going across the diamond, Elida was able to eliminate Daily in a rundown for the second out. After a walk, a flyout to center kept the margin at 4-1.
In the fifth, Suever coaxed a walk, and took second on a passed ball. Howard then bunted. Daily charged in to get the ball. He turned and fired, but slipped on the grass, with the throw sailing high and allowing Suever to score.
After he hit the next batter, Engle moved the runners to second and third with a groundout. A wild pitch gave Howard the chance to cross the plate and make it a five-run lead. Two strikeouts by Daily got them out of the inning.
Lyons reached for Shawnee on a misplayed fly to short. But that came with two down, and a grounder to third left him aboard.
Daily got two outs in the sixth, then gave up back-to-back hits, one to right and one to left. Reaman came on and got a strikeout.
Howard continued to chug along, striking out the side in the bottom half.
After Reaman had a 1-2-3 seventh, Shawnee came up for its final at-bat. Lucas Price went down looking, then Bacome got a infield single. He was retired on a force play on a grounder to second by Sage Ebling. Tate Bender then hit a ball down the first-base line which was scooped up by McGue, who trotted over and stepped on the bag to finish things off.
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