Coldwater’s Baylen Blockberger steps for home plate to score an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to beat Minster, 1-0. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coldwater broke up a no-hitter in the bottom of the seventh, played some small ball to edge out a run, and squeezed by Minster, 1-0.
Coldwater, OH – It was a ‘must-see’ game if you didn’t have a lot of time. It only took 1 hour and 14 minutes to play.
It was a game that featured a no-hit bid by Minster pitcher Louis Magoto until the bottom of the seventh.
It was a game between two of the state’s best – #3-ranked Coldwater (Div. V) and #1-ranked Minster (VII).
And, it was a game that demonstrated the depth of resources by both teams, held scoreless and forced to pitch and play defense for the first six innings.
But it was also a game that broke down to what former Piqua hall-of-fame coach Jim Hardman preached for years. “When all else fails,” he would say. “Put the ball in play and put pressure on the other team to make a play. They might make a mistake and give you the game.”
That’s exactly how it played out Thursday, as Coldwater centerfielder Braxton Taylor laid down a perfect bunt with runners on first and second and one out, bottom of the seventh, and forced Minster third baseman James Niemeyer to make a play. Taylor has superior speed, Niemeyer had to make a hurried throw that went wide of first baseman Ian Homan, and it allowed Coldwater’s Baylen Blockberger to score all the way from second base with an unearned winning run…1-0, Coldwater.
But up until then…..
Coldwater’s Owen Kunk pitched a complete game 2-hitter, striking out five without issuing a walk.
It was all about the pitching – Coldwater’s Owen Kunk and Minster’s Louis Magoto, both throwing blanks and benefiting from their mutual talent for throwing strikes. Both went the distance, Kunk allowing 2 hits while striking out five, and Magato allowing no hits through the sixth, while striking out 7, and issuing the game’s only walk.
There were some hard-hit balls with men on base.
And there were some fly balls that the wind, blowing in from center field, knocked down.
Hardly mistake-free, there were miscues – call them errors. Coldwater and Minster each survived three of them through the sixth.
And Minster had a pair of runners picked off first base, in the third and sixth inning.
Minster’s Louis Magoto took a no-hitter into the seventh, struck out seven, and eventually allowed two hits in a 1-0 loss.
But somehow Kunk and Magoto survived, even thrived, by simply throwing strikes, pitching to contact, and allowing their defenses to catch it and throw.
For Kunk, it was by far his best outing of the year.
“We have four senior pitchers, and we liked the matchup with Owen,” said Cavalier coach Cory Klenke. “He’s been throwing well, and we didn’t think that Minster had seen him before. We wanted to see how he would throw.”
“I’ve been pitching well recently,” said Kunk with a big smile. “It’s been a lot of fun. We’re playing well, we’ve got a good win streak going (17), and we want to keep it hot.”
He pitched as if he was oblivious to the pressure.
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“I knew we were struggling at the plate. I knew that Magoto had a no-hitter into the seventh, but I just got going and kept doing what I was doing. They (the offense) have picked me up in the past when I was struggling, and I knew that eventually they would keep putting pressure on their defense and get one across – Mason’s line drive in the sixth that [Owen] Schmiesing made a great play on, or Braxton’s bunt in the seventh to walk it off.”
Key to his performance, and in a game with so little margin for error, was the absence of walks – free bases. Kunk made Minster earn each of their five base runners.
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“And that’s been my issue in the past…throwing strikes,” Kunk added. “Throwing strikes and getting ahead. But for the past month we’ve really worked hard on getting all my pitches over the plate. Tonight it paid off.”
- Louis Magoto was equally cool under pressure, his biggest threat coming in the sixth when he left Miles Pottkotter at third with two out as Schmiesing caught Mason Welsch’s sinking line drive over second base for the third out.
But the Minster senior was not so lucky in the seventh.
His teammates rushed to celebrate with Braxton Taylor (above, center), whose bunt ended up scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Blockberger got to first base on an error by shortstop Noah Schwieterman. Designated hitter Mason Smith chopped a base hit through the left side of the infield to put runners at first and second with no outs. That brought Cody Depweg to the plate and Minster coach Mike Wiss to the mound.
“We used that time to talk about what our game plan was for the next three hitters,” said Klenke. “I told Braxton, ‘Let’s put a bunt down for a nice hit and see how they handle the pressure’ He’s got good speed and sure enough he put down a beauty.”
But first Cody Depweg struck out on a wicked Magoto breaking ball…and then Taylor came to the plate with Klenke’s words ringing in his ears.
“I couldn’t have done it better,” said Taylor, who put the ball about ten feet down the third base line and just inside the grass. Blockberger came around to score and the dugout made a bee line to mob Taylor in celebration.
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Mike Wiss would say it best, as he usually does…over the irony of pitching as well as Levi Magoto did for six innings, only to have the game unravel on a batted ball stopped dead, not fifteen feet from home plate.
“It’s baseball,” he said. “There’s a little added pressure at certain times, and they were able to put the pressure on us, two or three different innings…obviously in the last one.
“We got a couple of players picked off at first and lost the ability to put pressure on them. But their kid (Kunk) threw a nice game, the same as ours. Give them a lot of credit. This was the kind that we need, and the kind Coldwater needs…both of us…to advance in the tournament, if we get that chance.”
Coldwater won it with 1 run on 2 hits, and had 3 errors.
Minster lost it with no runs on 2 hits, and had 4 errors.
To Wiss’s words, it did feel like a tournament game when sometimes it’s over before you know what happened – a dress rehearsal between two of the state’s best teams.
“Put the ball in play and make the other team make a play,” said Jim Hardman. “They might make a mistake.”
Less, is more.
Somewhere…he’s smiling, vindicated. It’s baseball.
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