BLUFFTON — Lexington left the door open and St. Marys Memorial kicked it in Thursday afternoon.
The ninth-seeded Minutemen committed four errors and left nine men on base in a 4-3 loss to the eighth-seeded Roughriders in a Division II district semifinal game at Bluffton University’s Memorial Field.
“That’s the way baseball goes. You try to make the plays and it doesn’t always happen,” Lex coach Jeff Strickler said. “The thing I’m really proud of is these guys never gave up. They fought.”
Defending district champ St. Marys Memorial (11-14) struck first with two runs in the bottom of the third.
Jace Turner led off with a double and moved to this on Alexander Hoenie’s bunt base hit to put runners on the corners. Hoenie stole second and Turner scored when the throw went into center field. Hoenie eventually scored on Dyllan Fink’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Lex (11-18) took the lead in the top of the fifth. Landon Hamilton drew a walk to lead off the frame and moved to second on Michael Togliatti’s sacrifice bunt. Hamilton advanced to third on Cole Eichorn’s two-out single and scored on Braden Mumaw’s single to make it 2-1. Markale Martin followed with a double to center, plating Eichorn and Mumaw for a 3-2 lead.
The Roughriders reclaimed the lead in the sixth.
Preston Rupert reached on an infield single to start the inning and moved to second when the throw to first skipped to the fence. Rupert was lifted for pinch runner Dominik Osborne, who moved to third on a Kasey Gross sacrifice bunt and scored on Luke Rammel’s single to right to tie the score at 3-3.
Rammel was picked off first before Aiden Meinerding roped a triple to the wall in right. Meinerding scored what proved to be the game-winning throw when the relay throw to third went into the St. Marys Memorial dugout for an error.
Lex threatened in the top of the seventh but left men stranded at second and third when Martin’s hard line drive was snagged by Rupert at first to end the game.
Togliatti, Zian Rhodes, Eichorn, Mumaw Martin and Gage Powell each had a hit for Lex. Martin drove in two.
Colton Murfield was the hard-luck loser. He surrendered eight hits and struck out two in six innings.
The snake-bitten Minutemen were 1-7 in one-run games this spring.
“We’ve played a lot of one-run games, but it’s never been a question of effort,” Strickler said. “If nothing else these guys learned that they can play with anybody.”