COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Good pitching will beat good hitting. It held true Thursday night at Huntington Park where senior Travis Hissong pitched Bellville Clear Fork past Independence in the Division III state semifinals.
Independence senior Tony Carsel is tagged out by Clear Fork's Joe Staab, who completed the double play during the second inning Thursday.
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(Impact Action Photography)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Good pitching will beat good hitting.
It held true Thursday night at Huntington Park where senior Travis Hissong pitched Bellville Clear Fork past Independence in the Division III state semifinals.
Hissong, a hard-throwing right-hander who danced around the 88-89 mph mark all evening, threw a one-hitter during a 5-0 victory that ended the most successful season in Independence history.
Independence (28-4) entered the game with a team batting average of .322. That did not faze Hissong, who improved to 8-0 when he struck out 11, walked four and hit a batter.
Clear Fork (31-2) will play Wheelersburg (31-1) for the state title at 1 p.m. Saturday. Clear Fork has never won a state title in baseball; Wheelersburg, which eliminated Hamilton Badin, 8-4, on a walk-off grand slam in the 12th inning by Caleb Leach in the other semifinal, won its only state title in 1996.
It was not a good night for Independence pitching. While only giving up four hits, starter Josh Suvak and reliever Travis Teare combined to walk seven and hit two batters each.
The Blue Devils' only hit came off the bat of shortstop Tony Carsel with one out in the first inning. Carsel was erased on a double play.
"The bottom line is that we gave up 11 freebies today," said Independence coach Mark Echstenkamper, referring to the four hit batsmen and the seven walks.
Clear Fork scored three times in the second inning and added a single run in the fourth.
A misplayed ball and an error figured in both scoring opportunities.
Both teams threatened in the early going when the starting pitchers experienced control problems. Independence right-hander Suvak, who suffered his first loss of the season after nine wins, got the first two outs of the game but then walked a man and hit the next two to load the bases. He wriggled out of it by getting the third out on a ground ball.
Hissong walked the first two batters in the top of the second, but struck out the next two and escaped damage by enticing a ground out.
Suvak, who was lifted after two innings, wasn't as fortunate in the bottom of the second when the Colts scored three runs on three hits, a walk and a misplayed foul pop-up.
Clear Fork's Logan Perkins, batting eighth, walked with one out after the Blue Devils misplayed a foul pop-up that fell between catcher John Bugaj and third baseman Billy Gutermuth.
Perkins eventually coaxed a walk and scored when No. 9 hitter Erik Kline pounded a triple to right-center field. Joe Staab followed with a single to right and promptly stole second and scored on an infield single by Justin Blake.
Clear Fork's final run came when Kline walked with one out in the fourth. He moved to second when Staab was hit by a pitch - and scored on a throwing error on a double play attempt.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: trogers@plaind.com, 216-999-5169