Columbus Grove’s Shep Halker safely reaches second base against Arlington’s Rylar Essinger during a Wednesday Division IV district semifinal at Fifth Third Field in Findlay.
Don Speck | The Lima News
FINDLAY — Columbus Grove was too hot for the Arlington Red Devils and claimed a 2-0 Division IV district baseball semifinal victory Wednesday at Fifth Third Field in Findlay.
The win was due in large part to the effort of pitcher Brent Renner. He tossed a complete game, holding Arlington to two hits and two walks, while getting 10 strikeouts.
“He’s a tough kid. We trust him with the ball versus anybody,” said Bulldogs coach Brayden Sautter afterward. “He’s pitched against the best teams on our schedule,” he added, saying that included Lincolnview, Crestview and Bath. Sautter said that they had managed his workload during the past couple of weeks due to a shoulder issue.
With a strong wind blowing for the game, Columbus Grove had to manufacture runs. The Bulldogs got one in the second and one in the third and made it stand up. “We don’t play a ton of small ball,” Sautter said. But he noted that the conditions required it, and “we’ll take a win any way we can get it.”
The Bulldogs advance to Friday’s district final to face McComb.
Shep Halker and Bo Birnesser had doubles for CG, with other hits by Kyle Hopkins and Everett Palte. Birnesser and Hopkins were responsible for driving in the runs.
Rylar Essinger was the losing pitcher for Arlington, working five innings. He allowed four hits and issued five walks while getting three strikeouts.
Luke Metzger and Jared Griggs had the two Devils hits. Justin Rausch was the only batter to reach base twice, doing so on a walk and an error.
Arlington coach Aaron Chaeney said that he was proud of how the team competed, saying “we gave it our best shot.” The Red Devils end the year with a record of 11-13.
Renner retired the first man he faced, then walked Rausch. He avoided further trouble by getting Griggs to bounce into a double play. The Bulldogs went 1-2-3 in their first at-bat.
In the second, Renner struck out the leadoff batter. He then walked Wesley Hartman and gave up a bloop single by Metzger into shallow center. A passed ball allowed the runners to get into scoring position, but two strikeouts left them stranded.
With one away in the home half, Dalton Wurth got a walk. He took off after a wild pitch and sprinted all the way over to third. Hopkins put down a bunt.
Essinger charged in, grabbed the ball and quickly flung it back to catcher Griggs. Wurth managed to dive across under the tag to give Grove a 1-0 lead.
An errant pickoff throw then let Hopkins go from first to third, but a couple of groundouts got Arlington out still down by one.
Renner had two Ks and a comebacker in the top of the third. Paulte, the number nine hitter, had a single that went straight down the line and bounced off the third-base bag to stay fair.
He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brock Hoffman. A ground ball to short by Halker led to Arlington chasing Paulte back and forth between second and third. They eventually got him near the second base bag, and nearly had Halker as well.
Birnesser then knocked a ball into left field that landed out of the fielder’s reach and scored Halker to give the Bulldogs a bit more of a cushion.
After a walk, Arlington got out of the inning with a popup to the pitcher.
Renner put Arlington down in order in the fourth and fifth. Columbus Grove loaded the bases in the fifth on a double by Halker and walks to Birnesser and Wurth, but failed to add to the lead.
In the top of the sixth, Rausch reached on a misplayed grounder with two outs. Griggs singled down the left field line, putting Rausch on the opposite corner at third. But Renner slammed the door with a strikeout of Martin Jones.
Brady Griggs, who had been playing second, came on to pitch the sixth for Arlington. Columbus Grove alternated outs with a throwing error and walk to put two on. An attempted steal of third shut matters down.
Renner went back out and got a grounder to first, then struck out the last two batters, one looking and one swinging to seal the deal.
McComb 3, Pandora-Gilboa 2
P-G was unable to tie the game after scoring twice in the sixth inning. Starting pitcher C Teman allowed one earned run, three hits and four walks while striking out 10 in 5 2/3 innings.
Jake Maag had a double and an RBI and Isaac Stall had two hits for Pandora-Gilboa.
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
