Check out photos from the title game. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Prosperity does not live in the Walsh Jesuit lineup.
Walsh Jesuit's Graeme Frye beats the pickoff throw as Jonathan Alder's Tyler Miller waits for the ball during Sunday's Div. II state title game in Columbus.
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(Tony Coles / ImpactActionSports.com)
Check out photos from the title game.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Prosperity does not live in the Walsh Jesuit lineup.
For the second year in a row, the Warriors were unable to protect or extend an early lead and fell in the Division II state baseball finals. This time the disappointment came in a 3-2 loss to Plain City Jonathan Alder on Sunday in a terrific game in front of an estimated crowd of 8,000 in Huntington Park.
The Warriors had two runners in scoring position when the game ended.
Senior Greg Greve held Alder to one run and three hits through the first four innings. This is the same Alder team that has eight guys with 20 or more RBI on the season, with a team batting average of .342 and ranked first in the final coaches poll.
The Warriors (30-2) were unable to give Greve much support after the first inning against left-hander Zach Maynard, who held the Warriors to four hits. Last year Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin's Erik Okleson pitched a two-hitter in the state title game, winning 2-1.
"These guys have had my back all year," said Greve, who lost for the first time after eight victories. "They've done everything for me. They played defense for me, they scored runs for me. Tonight, things just didn't go our way."
Alder, which became the 24th team in Ohio history to finish unbeaten, scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning following a weird play.
First baseman Tyler Miller hit what looked like a foul pop up behind home plate, but the strong winds that blew all day pushed the ball back towards fair territory. The ball landed on home plate and spun fair.
"I've been playing baseball a long time and I've never seen a ball go straight up, come down and land on home plate and stay fair," said Greve.
A wild pitch moved Miller to second and he scored on a two-out single to center by Nate Squires.
Senior shortstop Johnny Fasola gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his 10th home run of the season, a high drive that easily cleared the 400-foot sign in center field. Last year it was Joe Pawlowski who homered in the first.
"It was deja vu," Kaczmar said to the similarities in the two losses. "It was equally as painful. These two seasons, oddly enough, have been the best in my career. Tonight was a great high school baseball game. But the seniors on this team have been truly, from the bottom of my heart, like sons to me. I will miss them and love them and time and distance is not going to change that."
Alder tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when Graham Johnston hit a towering triple to the warning track in right field and scored when Squires dropped a squeeze bunt down the first-base line.
The Warriors did not go easily in the seventh. Ryan Berry opened with a walk and Forrest Perron did the same after two strikeouts. Catcher Cassidy Brown drove Berry home and Perron to third with a solid single to right. Brown eventually moved to second after the Warriors tried to get the tying run home by having Brown get into a rundown. The Pioneers did not fall for the ruse and the game ended when Marco Caponi was out at first base on a bang-bang play on his slow roller to first baseman Miller.