Reliever Ian Bergman took over in the first inning, down five runs and no one out…and pitched a complete game four-hitter in relief, to win 12-5. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Versailles couldn’t have started worse, or finished better…Tigers get a miraculous relief performance from Ian Bergman, overcome a 5-run first inning deficit, and benefit from some old Sturwold synergy to beat Carlisle in the Division V District Semi-Final, 12-5.
Versailles, OH – Irony of ironies, five minutes before the first pitch of Tuesday night’s Division V district semi-final between Versailles (19-9) and Carlisle (17-9), Versailles coach Bill Sturwold called his team together and reminded them, once again, that it was tournament time.
“I don’t care if we’re up four or down four, we play it the same,” said Sturwold, his eyes sparkling with competitive energy. “We play to win the ballgame”….or one of his many variations on an age-old malaprop.
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And five minutes later, against a competitive Carlisle team with athletes from the SWBL, Sturwold and the Tigers would have their opportunity to put legs on their faith regarding “Up four or down four, we play it the same.”
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Carlisle came out ready to play, sure enough. Versailles pitcher Sam Deland gave up a line single to center field immediately, and then got caught by indecision on back-to-back sacrifice bunt attempts. Within seconds Carlisle had loaded the bases with none out. Within a couple of minutes the Tigers had dropped a routine sac fly in center that would have scored a run under normal circumstances. In this case it scored two. There was a balk called on Deland, adding further fuel to the fire. And after ten minutes and twenty five pitches, and without retiring an out, Sturwold was forced to come to the mound and make a pitching change, replacing Deland with reliever Ian Bergman, normally a starting pitcher for the Tigers.
It was one of those instances in baseball where you can’t explain why things don’t go according to Hoyle. As a pitcher you groom yourself endlessly to not only throw strikes, but to execute good strikes. And Carlisle, in the midst of those twenty five pitches, really only hit one ball that couldn’t be caught…the leadoff single. The rest were misplayed bunts, a dropped fly ball, and some balls put in play that begged for a defensive mulligan – a do-over, if you will.
It could have been more…but Versailles catcher Ethan Hietkamp tags out Carlisle’s Luke Winkler during a five-run Indians burst early in Tursday’s disrrict semi-final at Versailles.
But here’s why Bill Sturwold starts games by quoting maloprops like “up four or down four, we play it the same.”
An inning later, in the bottom of the second, Versailles completely flipped the script against Carlisle. The Tigers sent 14 men to the plate, scored six times to take a 6-5 lead…then settled in while Ian Bergman pitched his best baseball in a month. Bergman finished the game – 7 innings – allowing no runs on 4 hits, struck out 4…and he and the Tigers walked away with a 12-5 win for their effort to advance to Thursday afternoon’s District Final game against Cincinnati Christian at National Trail High School.
Versailles scored 6 in the second, 3 in the third, and 3 in the sixth, had three players with multi-hit games (Reece Magoteaux, 2…Carson Bergman, 3…and Ian Berman, 3) and looked like a team that had suddenly undergone an epiphany in how to give yourself a chance to win a baseball game when you either win…or go home!
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Ian Bergman was not only good, but timely, coming back from a month of struggling with his pitching mechanics and a loss in velocity. Tuesday afternoon he looked like Chase Burns.
“When I came in I was just thinking about throwing strikes with men on base,” said Bergman. “I wasn’t trying to strike people out, I was just pitching to contact and hoped my infield could make some plays. I worked on my mechanics a couple of weeks ago, to get out over my front side, and my velocity was back and better today.
Carson Bergman helped the Tigers’ offense considerably…with three hits in Tuesday’s 12-5 win over Carlisle.
“I really didn’t think about how long I’d have to be out there, or who might pitch next. I was just wheelin’ and dealin’, and that’s what I did. And our offense did a good job against their relief pitching, and they had a couple of guys that throw hard.”
And did he learn anything from hearing Sturwold’s speech?
“Ah, he preaches about that a lot,” Bergman smiled. “Actually, he says a lot of things like that. But today gave us confidence. We know we can do what we did today if we have to. Coming back from five runs like that, I think we can do about anything we need to in this tournament.”
Sturwold smiled later at hearing the impact of his pre-game wisdoms.
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“Well, it’s just baseball,” he began. “Honestly, we could have had a couple of more runs had we not gotten a guy picked off and I made a mistake by putting a hit and run on when maybe I didn’t need to. But it’s high school, and things like that happen. What’s important is that we learned from today, and if it happens again on Thursday or down the road we respond to what we learned. If it happens maybe we win a big ballgame.”
It didn’t start well for Sam Deland, but it ended with this play for a late out and a shot a Thursday’s district title against Cincinnati Christian.
They scored 12 runs on 13 hits, and time after time made hard contact, or put a bunt in play…anything that required Carlisle’s defense to respond by making a play. Do that often enough and mistakes are bound to happen. When mistakes happens, runs can come in bunches.
“I was really happy with our at bats,” said Sturwold, already thinking ahead to Thursday’s game at National Trail and what Cincinnati Christian might pose in terms of competitive challenge. “And we’ve done what we did today quite often. I don’t know how many times, but we’re 19-10 now and we’ve been down in the first inning like that and we’ve had to come back. We’re not a quick-starting team for some reason, and it hasn’t burned us yet. I don’t know anything about Cincinnati Christian on Thursday, but we need to come out of the game a little better than that. I’m sure they’ll have a couple of dudes.”
“And don’t even ask me about who’s pitching, because I’ve got to figure that out.”
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What he hopes to have figured out is that offense – 12 runs on 13 hits, and by necessity on Tuesday, it was offense by command.
“I’ve been throwing quite a bit of BP (batting practice), and the kids trust me and get a kick out of it. I just take a couple of Tylenols and let er’ rip. I’ll suffer the pain during the tournament. We’ll get on the phone tonight and find out what we need to know about who we’re playing next…these younger coaches are all tech saavy and they’ll have everything I need to know.”
Bill Sturwold on the art of throwing middle-age batting practice: “I just take a couple of Tylenols and let ‘er rip. Got all summer to mend. The pain is worth it.”
Some more vintage Sturwold on how to prepare for tournament baseball: “You never want to end your season on your home field, win or lose,” he said Tuesday. “You always want to get off your home field (onto a neutral site), because that means you’re playing for a district final.
“And we want to win the district. It’s always been a goal of mine to win twenty games for the season. You do that and you’ve had a pretty good year, and there’s not that many teams that win twenty games. And we do it in a pretty good league with pretty good baseball. So the competition’s good.”
What he preaches, to use Ian Bergman’s words, is simple stuff. It makes sense. And it’s easy for high school baseball players to digest, and buy. Learn from what you did today and maybe it helps you win a bigger game on Thursday.
Take a couple of Tylenol and let ‘er rip. You got all summer to mend, and the pain is worth it.
And…you never want to end your season on your home field. One wonders…..
Who taught Bill Sturwold?
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