By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Visiting Delphos St. John's used a four-run fifth inning to beat Ada 7-3 in Div. IV first round sectional baseball play Tuesday night.
The loss dropped Ada's record to 8-12 after their seventh defeat in a row. The eighth-seeded Blue Jays improved to 6-18 with the win.
DSJ advances to play at third-seeded Columbus Grove (13-6) Thursday, May 16 at 5 p.m. in the sectional finals.
Neither team scored in the first inning, but DSJ pushed across a run in the top of the second on an infield groundout. Ada senior hurler Connor Frazier registered the last two outs on a fly out to center field and a grounder to shortstop to keep it 1-0.
Ada went down in order in the home second on a foul-out, a strikeout and a grounder to shortstop.
DSJ leadoff man Braysen Schulte started the third inning by drawing a walk. He then sped all the way to third when a pickoff throw went awry.
Tony Sanders ripped a hard grounder to shortstop, yet Phillip Coulson made a nice backhand stop and threw him out. However, the smash drove in Schulte with the second Blue Jay run.
In the Bulldog third, Brandon Hull drew a one-out walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, then moved to third base on a groundout to third by Dylan East.
Coulson smacked a grounder to the shortstop, and his low throw skipped by the Blue Jay first baseman, allowing Hull to score. Austin Amburgey then drove a fly ball to left field that was caught to end the inning with Ada trailing, 2-1.
Brady Kerner pulled a double into deep right field to open the DSJ fourth. Frazier handled a sacrifice bunt unassisted. Dominic Metzger lifted a fly ball to right fielder Ethan Hall, and Kerner scored easily on the sacrifice out to make it 3-1.
East recorded the last putout of the frame on a fly ball to center field.
With one out in the Ada fourth, catcher Landon Blankenship reached first when his grounder skipped through the second baseman's legs.
But he was thrown out trying to steal, and Frazier lined out hard to left field to end the inning.
DSJ then gave themselves some breathing room with the big fifth frame. Schulte led off with a single to right field, followed by a Sanders single to center.
Lincoln Mueller then laid down a bunt in front of home. Frazier fielded the ball cleanly and looked to third, but had no play there. By the time he turned his body and threw to first, Mueller narrowly beat the toss to load the bases with none out.
A wild pitch brought Schulte home for a 4-1 lead. A passed ball then made it 5-1, and Chandler Skym walked. Frazier picked off a runner at second base to get the first out.
Gavin Fittro hit a ground ball to third baseman Bryce Paul, who threw home to try and cut down the Blue Jay runner. But the toss to Blankenship was too late as DSJ extended its lead to 6-1.
Kerner walked and stole a base. An infield hit to shortstop by Adam Gerker filled the sacks again. Metzger then laid down a bunt that Frazier fielded and threw on to first baseman Jaylin Burkhart to record the out, but the run scored to make it 7-1.
Another walk loaded the bases and Coulson came in to relieve Frazier. Coulson struck out Schulte swinging on three pitches to limit the damage and strand three runners.
In the home fifth, the first two batters struck out against hard-throwing Blue Jay southpaw Luke Reindel. Hull's hard grounder made it through for a single, and he advanced to second on a passed ball.
Hull then swiped third base and when catcher Fittro's throw sailed into left field, the speedy sophomore popped up and came in to score easily. Reindel ended the fifth by striking out East.
In the top of the sixth, a leadoff walk was erased when Blankenship gunned down Sanders trying to steal second. Coulson recorded a strikeout, but walked the next two batters. He then recovered to catch Kerner looking on strikes to end the threat.
In the Ada sixth, Jacob Morgan drew a two-out walk. But Blankenship bounced into a force-out play at second base to end the frame.
In the DSJ seventh, Metzger legged out an infield hit with one out. Yet freshman left fielder Tyler Jamerson made a nice diving catch of a fly ball, and Coulson got the last out on a pop-up back to the mound.
Ada rallied briefly in the bottom of the seventh. Frazier roped a double past the center fielder to lead off their final at bat.
Burkhart bounced a hard one-hopper back up the middle. Reindel leaped and could not quite snare the ball as it deflected off his glove to shortstop for an infield hit.
Next, Reindel threw away a pickoff try and Frazier trotted home to cut the deficit to 7-3. The lefty recovered to strike out Jameson.
Hull then lifted a fly ball to medium depth right field. Burkhart tagged up and tried to score on the fly out. But a strong throw and a swipe tag by Fittro barely caught the Ada senior at home plate to end the game despite his wide slide to the inside part of home.
Reindel struck out eight Bulldogs and walked four in seven innings to earn the win. He allowed four hits and one earned run. The lefty threw 101 pitches, 68 for strikes or in play.
Frazier permitted six earned runs and scattered 11 hits over four and 2/3 innings. He walked five Jays and threw 80 pitches, 44 of which went for strikes or in play.
Coulson hurled 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. He walked three and struck out three, giving up one hit.
Hull scored two of the three Ada runs with a walk, steal and a single. Frazier doubled and scored the other Bulldog run. Coulson walked once and had the lone Bulldog run batted in. East also contributed a walk.
DSJ out-hit Ada 12-4 as Kerner, Fittro, Metzger and Skym each collected two hits. Kerner and Schulte both scored two runs. Metzger drove in two runs, while Gerker and Sanders had one RBI apiece.
The Bulldogs left four runners on base while the Blue Jays stranded nine. Ada was guilty of three errors, and St. John's committed two miscues.
123 456 7 R H E
DSJ 011 140 0 7 12 2
Ada 001 010 1 3 4 3
WP-Reindel LP-Frazier (1-4)
2B-Kerner (DSJ), Frazier (A)
Ada (1-6 NWC, 6-5 home) hosts a league makeup game with third-place Columbus Grove (5-2 NWC) to finish their season Saturday, May 18 at 11 a.m.
