Versailles starter Ross Francis battled the opponent and a tight strike zone for 4 1/3 innings. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Jeff Gilbert)
Senior catcher Matt Subler kept believing in his Versailles teammates. But the other team, Miami Valley Christian Academy, executed one run better to win a Division V district final.
Fairborn, OH – The dugout, if it wasn’t made of cement blocks, would have shaken.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
The Versailles baseball team, except for those sprinting around the bases, was jumping up and down, yelling, banging on the railing and feeling like it had a chance.
Ross Francis had just lined a two-out triple the opposite way into the right-field corner. As Ryan Treon, Carson Bergman and Ben Subler crossed home plate the sounds that could be translated “we’re going to win this thing” reached a crescendo that drowned out the hum of the nearby I-675 traffic.
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Francis’ timeliest of triples had cut Versailles’ deficit to one run in the bottom of the sixth inning in the Tigers’ uphill battle against Miami Valley Christian Academy in a Division V district final at Fairborn High School.
“I was bouncing up and down, jumping up and down on the fence, yelling at the top of my lungs,” senior catcher Matt Subler said. “That was so exciting, so exciting.”
But every crescendo is eventually followed by a decrescendo. The inning ended with Francis at third base. But Subler had faith his Tigers still had some high notes left to hit.
“I believe in these guys all day, every day,” Subler said. “I honestly did think we were going to bring it back, and I thought we were going to be able to do it during the seventh.”
Versailles second baseman Sam Deland and his fellow infielders made all the routine plays necessary to keep the Tigers close.
But it didn’t happen. And MVCA reliever Max Simon, who had given up Francis’ triple, pitched a perfect seventh and Versailles lost 7-6, ending a 14-game winning streak. The Tigers (22-5) haven’t won a district title since 2019 and have lost four straight district finals.
“It is definitely a goal that we think about, and it’s hard to take in perspective,” Versailles coach Brad Koopman said. “There’s over 100 schools in that division and to get to the district finals, you’re in that top 32, which in perspective is, ‘Hey, you’re putting together a good year.’ We’ve worked ourselves to be up to this point on a consistent basis, and every year we’ve been right in it and just haven’t been able to get over that barrier.”
This year MVCA (21-5) got in the Tigers’ way, jumping to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Versailles starter Ross Francis walked the first two Lions, then James Bowling flared a double the opposite way down the right-field line. He scored on starting pitcher Gavin French’s line-drive single for a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers put runners on base in the second and third innings, but a double play turned by the shortstop and another on a comebacker to French ended both threats.
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The Tigers finally got to let loose and make the dugout almost shake in the fourth. Jace Watren and Ian Bergman opened the inning with singles to set up a two-run double pulled over the third-base bag by Subler to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“That was the life that we needed, that extra boost to get us on the board, get us back in the game,” Subler said. “For me it was a confidence boost because I doubt myself more than I doubt the rest of these guys.”
Matt Subler got the Versailles offense going with this two-run double in the fourth inning.
Subler’s courtesy runner, Chase Monnin, later scored on Sam Deland’s infield single to tie the score 3-3.
If Versailles had new life, MVCA had new resolve. They were selective at the plate in the fifth and drew two leadoff walks. Koopman had a reliever warmed up, but after visiting the mound and talking to Francis he chose to leave him in.
A single on the next pitch loaded the bases, and a walk to the next batter put the Lions up 4-3. Then a 3-0 count on the next batter led to Koopman replacing Francis with Bergman. His first pitch was ball four and the Lions’ lead grew to 5-3. Then a bunt single and a conventional single plated a run apiece, putting the Tigers in a 7-3 hole.
Of the Lions seven runs, five were scored by players who walked.
“That’s the easy target to get, but they walked a lot of us, too,” Koopman said. “They executed a few of those timely hits, and especially in the first hitting a couple flares down the right field line. And we hit into a couple double plays.”
MVCA batters drew eight walks. Versailles batters walked seven times. The strike zone was tight, mostly at the kneecaps and on the outside part of the plate, Subler said.
Versailles shortstop Carson Bergman made two good plays charging slow bouncers behind the mound.
“It was tough,” he said. “Usually I can bring a few back and steal a few. But if it wasn’t on the white it wasn’t going to get the call. It was both ways. I could see it when their catcher would be a little upset.”
The “what ifs” are present again for Koopman to try to put out of his mind during the offseason.
“Baseball is always like that,” he said. “I guarantee you, I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. You lose a game at different times throughout the season, you’re always going to rethink it. But during the season you don’t have a whole lot of time to think about it – it’s that next game, next whatever you’ve got going on. Whereas, the final game lingers.”
Subler enjoyed his three years on varsity and all the success. He knows his senior group didn’t rebuild anything, only refueled the program. He said those coming behind him will refuel again. He expects them to have the same chance next year this year’s team had, and he wishes them a winning result.
“It’s really unfortunate that we just couldn’t pull it out,” he said. “But I never doubted these guys for a second.”
Versailles’ Carson Bergman crosses the plate with the second of three runs to score on Ross Francis’ triple in the sixth inning while MVCA catcher Owen Nickum yells instructions to his infielders.
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