2B Baseball: Toledo Finishes Fourth in State

Try as it might, Toledo was simply unable to get its bats going on Saturday in the third- and fourth-place contest of the State 2B Baseball Tournament at Ed Wheeler Field.

Facing Cam Richman — DeSales’ veteran senior ace, headed to the University of Portland next year — the Indians were blanked 4-0 in the trophy game.

Far from being blown away by Richman’s hard heat and biting slider, Toledo was able to put runners on base in five of the game’s seven innings. It was just a matter of timely hitting, or a lack thereof, that prevented the Indians from plating any of their base inhabitants.

“They saved their ace for us,” said Toledo skipper Jeff Davis of Richman, the winning pitcher in the 2013 and 2014 state championship games. “I fully expected a charge from our guys today and it just didn’t happen. We never rounded that corner.”

Grant McEwen, Kolt Korpi, Wes Kuzminski, Dalton Yoder, and Konner Crawford all clubbed hits at one time or another for Toledo, and a number of walks and errors supplied the Indians with additional chances. Still, the big break never materialized and Richman was able to work rather comfortably en route to a complete game, nine-strikeout, 74-pitch shutout.

“We just didn’t get the timely hitting,” said Davis of his team’s offensive struggles. “All four teams here are good teams. A hit there, a bounce there and we could’ve fared a lot better.”

Konner Crawford, a three-year letterman for Toledo, agreed with his coach’s assessment and never lost faith in his teams tooth-and-nail grit.

“Baseball is a game of chance,” said Crawford. “It’s just up to how the ball lands, really.”

On Saturday, the ball did not land in the right spots for Toledo.

On the winning side, Richman proved his baseball bona fides by going 1 of 2 at the plate with two walks. The Irish’s leadoff hitter also scored the first two runs of the contest, which wound up being more cushion than he would need. The first of those runs came in the first inning when Richman drew a leadoff walk, stole second and then took third base and home on the resulting overthrow.

Connor Vermilyea started the contest for Toledo, pitching three innings while surrendering two runs. Dakota Robins and Dalton Yoder split the duties the rest of the way with Robins taking the hit for the Bulldogs’ final two runs.

With a fourth-place trophy in hand that all but three teams in the Washington would happily accept, Davis credited the presence of a surprising group of seniors for his team’s expect-to-win attitude.

“We had a couple of seniors turn out for their first year of baseball,” said Davis of Austin Eaton and McEwen. Aaron Bratina and Crawford were Toledo’s other senior representatives. “They’re a pretty loose bunch. They’ve all got each other’s backs.”