COLUMBUS — Drake Batcho wasn’t quite as strong in the seventh inning as he was in the first, but Warren Champion’s ace didn’t lose much during Thursday’s Division III state semifinal at Huntington Park.
The hard-throwing left-hander struck out nine and limited Clear Fork to four base hits and the second-ranked Golden Flashes advanced to Saturday’s state final with a 2-1 win.
A junior who is drawing interest from several Division I college programs, Batcho hit 91 mph on the stadium radar gun in the first inning.
He was still throwing 88 in the seventh.
“My adrenaline was going and my arm felt good,” Batcho said. “Going in, I knew to just throw strikes and let the defense take care of the rest.”
Batcho needed just 106 pitches to take care of the Colts (18-13). He threw 78 strikes and surrendered three walks.
“That guy was for real,” Clear Fork coach Rusty Staab said. “Good pitching always beats good hitting. We needed a pitcher who didn’t dominate and he dominated.”
Early Lead: The Golden Flashes (26-3) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Batcho led off with a double to left center and took third on A.J. Meyer’s single to center. Andrew Russell followed with a run-scoring single, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. Clear Fork starter Mitch Dulin limited the damage, however, inducing a double play ball before recording an inning-ending strikeout.
“Mitch battled,” Clear Fork coach Rusty Staab said. “He threw a lot of pitches (120 in 6.1 innings), but he kept fighting.”
Equalizer: The Colts pulled even in the home half of the third. No. 9 hitter Hunter Auck led off with a single to center, moved to second on Thomas Staab’s groundout to second and came around to score on Hunter Boyer’s single to right.
“I like to jump on the first-pitch fastball,” Boyer said. “I struck out in the at bat before that and this was a big game. We needed something to get us going.”
Game-Winner: The Golden Flashes scored the game-winning run in the top of the seventh. Pinch hitter Noach Gradishar lined an opposite-field single just over the outstretched glove of Clear Fork first baseman Paul Francisco and was lifted in favor of of pinch runner Justin Taninecz. Dulin struck out leadoff hitter Lucas Nasonti but walked Kyle Forrest on a 3-2 count to put runners at first and second. Staab summoned side-armer Jarod Smith from the bullpen. The junior gave up a single to left that was misplayed, allowing Taninecz to score.
“Our left fielder feels terrible, but that didn’t lose the game for us,” Staab said. “We had opportunities to score, but it just didn’t happen.”
State Final: The Golden Flashes will play top-ranked Berlin Hiland for the state championship at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Hawks beat Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy 2-1 in eight innings.
“It’s a dream come true,” Batcho said. “We’ve got one more game we have to finish.”
