Just a few moments before, it looked like the Chardon Hilltoppers Baseball Team was on their way to punching their ticket to the OHSAA Regional Semifinals.
Just a few moments before, it looked like the Chardon Hilltoppers Baseball Team was on their way to punching their ticket to the OHSAA Regional Semifinals.
Sophomore J.B. Burton was cruising on the mound as he held the Aurora Greenmen scoreless for the first five innings of the OHSAA District Championship Game.
But Greenmen senior shortstop and Gannon University commit Mike Anzells came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with one on and nobody out.
A tough out all game (4-5), Anzells hit the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a two-run home run.
New ballgame!
The Hilltoppers and Greenmen are tied, 2-2.
Now it’s the bottom of the eighth inning on May 28 at Massillon High School, sometime in the early evening.
The Greenmen’s Mike Anzells is on third base.
There is only one out. If Anzells scores, the game is over.
Is this how the season is going to end for the Hilltoppers, a walk off base hit by the Greenmen?
No.
Sophomore pitcher J.B. Burton had no intention of giving up, even though he had thrown 122 pitches.
Hilltoppers Head Coach Greg Fronk then made the decision to intentionally walk the next two Greenmen batters to load the bases.
With bases full of Greenmen, Burton threw three straight strikes to record the second out of the eighth inning.
Coach Fronk then made the call to the bullpen.
With the bases loaded and an immense amount of pressure, junior John Timko enters the game.
The heat is on!
The bases are loaded and there are two outs. If Timko walks the Greenmen batter, game over.
Ball one!
Strike one, strike two the umpire motions.
Ball two and ball three the umpire implies.
This is it!
Everything is riding on this next pitch, playoff baseball at its best.
A strike and the Hilltoppers go to the ninth, a ball and game is over.
Timko gets set and he throws. A swing and a miss. Strike three!
The Hilltoppers dugout goes crazy with joy!
Unbelievable poise shown by Burton and Timko. To the ninth the Hilltoppers go.
With the momentum, the Hilltoppers rally for four runs with two outs in the ninth to defeat the Greenmen, 6-3, and punch their ticket to the OHSAA Regional Semifinals.
The Hilltoppers dramatic victory began with them getting on the scoreboard early.
Ty Roediger walked to start the top of the second inning and then went to second when Adam Gable was hit by the pitch. Then on a 2-2 count, with one out, A.J. Perfetto hit a line drive double down the right field line scoring Roediger and Gable.
The score remained 2-0 until the Greenmen scored two on a home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Still tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, the Greenmen put the pressure on the Hilltoppers as their first batter, Anzells, singled to right field. Anzells then advanced to second base on a wild throw on a pickoff attempt.
The Greenman then put down a sacrifice bunt to get their runner to third base with only one out.
Coach Fronk then walked the next two Greenmen batters. He talked about this decision.
Fronk said that the main reason to intentionally walk two batters in a row with one out was to set up a force play at any base. A key to this strategy being successful was Burton getting the strike out for the second out of the inning.
“To get that second out with a runner on third, that’s it, that runner scores, it’s over,” Fronk said. “Those other two don’t matter. So get us a force wherever we can. And he gets the second out. J.B’s got to get that strikeout.”
Burton said that he focused on throwing his best pitch in that situation.
“I threw my most confident pitch,” Burton said. “I was throwing it well. Even if the worst comes to worst, even if I didn’t get the strikeout, I had my defense behind me, and they were looking to throw it to home too.”
Then, Coach Fronk decided to bring in Timko to try to get the final out of the eighth inning.
“John came in, struck that (batter) out with bases loaded,” Coach Fronk said. “I mean that’s a big time moment, so the train keeps moving.”
Timko said that he felt the pressure coming into a difficult situation, but he trusted his defense and focused on throwing strikes in order to get the strikeout.
“It was very nerve wracking, 3-2 count, it was scary and I just let (the fastball) fly,” Timko said.
To take the lead in the top of the ninth and punch their ticket to Regionals, the Hilltoppers rallied for four runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
After two singles with two outs, by Dom Grano and Justin Smith, Tim Robertson came to the plate.
Robertson doubled to left field driving in Grano from second base as the Hilltoppers took a 3-2 lead.
The Hilltoppers then added three additional runs in the top of the ninth.
The Greenmen added a run in the bottom of ninth to make the final score, 6-3.
The Hilltoppers were led offensively by Smith (3-5, 1 2B) and Tim Robertson (2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI).
On the mound, the Hilltoppers were stellar. Burton pitched 7.2 innings, scattering eight hits, striking out five batters and only allowing 2 earned runs.
Timko, in 1.1 innings of work, was clutch. He only allowed 1 hit, struck out one batter and gave up one earned run.
The Hilltoppers will next continue their playoff run when they face the CVCA Royals on June 3 at Hudson High School.
