Delphos St. John’s players celebrate after winning Thursday’s Division IV sectional final against Miller City at Stadium Park. See more high school baseball photos at LimaScores.com.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
DELPHOS — It could not have been scripted any better.
It was the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs, bases loaded with a 3-2 pitch-count on Delphos St. John’s batter Landen Grothaus.
Grothaus delivered for the Blue Jays.
Grothaus drilled a shot to the gap in left centerfield, which drove in the winning run for St. John’s in Thursday’s Division IV baseball sectional final against visiting Miller City to give the Blue Jays a come-from-behind, extra inning 4-3 victory over Miller City at Stadium Park.
With the win, St. John’s (18-9) advances to next week’s district tournament at Patrick Henry High School. The Blue Jays will take on No. 1 seed Lincolnview next Wednesday the 24th in a district semifinal with first pitch set for 5 p.m.
“No pressure at all,” Grothaus said jokingly. “I was just looking to poke it to the right side, honestly. But it worked out. … It hit the barrel (of the bat) perfectly. I was hoping that Tyce (McClain) would close it out the batter before, but I was glad that I got my chance.”
St. John’s trailed until the seventh inning.
In the seventh, down 3-1, the Blue Jays scored two runs on two base hits to knot the contest, 3-3.
The game went into extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, St. John’s loaded the bases on no hits off Miller City’s reliever Thomas Weis. That set up the dramatic game-winning hit by Grothaus.
Heading into the eighth inning, Grothaus was 0 for 3 with a walk.
“That’s baseball, I guess. (It has its) ups and downs, obviously,” Grothaus said. “But that’s what is special about our team – when we get down, we don’t lose our heads. We always keep our heads up.”
St. John’s head coach Jerry Jackson felt like his team got the bat on the baseball Thursday. For the game, the Blue Jays collected ten base hits.
“We had a good approach the whole game. We were just hitting right at their guys,” Jackson said. “We were thinking throughout the game that we would start finding holes. … It was tough to find them, until the seventh inning. Then, obviously, we executed on some plays and got the tying run in. That was our goal – to tie and extend the game. That was the key.”
Braylon Metzger got the starting nod on the mound for the Blue Jays Thursday.
Metzger pitched three-plus innings before being lifted in the fourth. Cam Elwer moved over from shortstop to take over pitching duties for the Blue Jays.
Metzger was tabbed for three runs (two earned) on four hits, while striking out five and walking two. Metzger threw 78 pitches.
Elwer pitched the rest of the game for St. John’s. Elwer struck out seven and walked five.
“Elwer came in and helped us keep them at bay until we could get close enough to tie it,” Jackson said. “Our starter (Metzger) struggled a little bit to find the strike zone. Defensively, we didn’t make plays that we could have. Elwer came in and shut it down. And our timely hitting was key in the seventh and eighth innings.
“Braylon (Metzger) is a guy that we counted a lot on this year. He had an off day, today. But he did well enough to keep us in the game.”
Andrew Weis started on the mound for Miller City.
Weis worked 6 1/3 innings, before being lifted in the seventh. Thomas Weis came in and closed out the game for the Wildcats.
Andrew Weis gave up two runs on eight hits, while striking out two, walking two and hitting a batter. He threw 101 pitches on the day.
Miller City jumped out to the early lead, scoring two runs on two hits in the top of the first inning. However, Miller City left the bases loaded in the first. For the game, the Wildcats left 11 base runners stranded.
St. John’s cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the second.
Tyce McClain grounded out, but that enabled Jack Gerker (1 for 4) to score.
Miller City added a run in the fourth to extend its lead to 3-1.
Leading the way at the plate for St. John’s on the night was Elwer (2 for 4, RBI and a double). Collin Feathers also went 2 for 4 for the Blue Jays.
For Miller City (15-13), Thomas Weis went 2 for 4.
Jackson was happy to get out with the hard-fought win.
“I told the kids, coming into the postseason, that it’s all about surviving and advancing,” Jackson said.
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