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Ohio Spring baseball always seems to fly by and in 2018 that is most definitely evident with the fact we are in Columbus at beautiful Huntington Park for the State Final Four. That means the four best teams in each division will battle it out to see who is the champion.

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OHSAA DIVISION II STATE SEMIFINAL - #2 Tallmadge vs #3 Chaminade Julienne

COLUMBUS - Revenge was sweet for Chaminade Julienne and Ryan Peltier.

The Ball State commit, who was the losing pitcher in last year’s state championship game against Tallmadge, got some redemption on Friday evening in a 2-1 win over the Blue Devils in the Division II state semifinal contest.

The Chaminade senior fired a two-hitter in shutting down the second-ranked team in the division.

In addition, Peltier drove in the first run of the game with a triple to left-center field in the opening frame to score Andrew Simones who had walked and stole second.

Tallmadge, winners of 16 of its last 18 coming in, evened the game at 1-1 in the last of the third when Rich Eyre hit a leadoff single and with two away stole second and then came home on a Seth Gergely base hit.

But Chaminade became the first team to score more than one run against the Blue Devils in the tournament with what proved to be the game-winner in the fourth. The unearned run off Tallmadge hurler Zach Boyd started with a fielding error, one of four in the game by Tallmadge, to put Nick Wissman on first. A stolen base and strikeout followed before designated hitter Jack Huffman brought in Wissman with a single to center.

Only two other Tallmadge batters reached base thereafter, both on walks by Peltier, who fanned four and gave up four free passes.

Boyd was the hard-luck loser, surrendering six hits and one walk in 6.1 innings.

HOT TAKES

Big inning: Trailing 2-1, Tallmadge had the 2-3-4 part of its order coming to bat in the bottom of the sixth. All Division I college recruits, it was do-or-die time for Peltier. A ground out and strikeout started the frame before a walk to Army recruit Scott Seeker. Luke Thomas pinch ran and just got in under the tag for a stolen base. But Peltier managed to get Jared Burick on a fly to center to end the threat, then retired the Blue Devils in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Player of the game: Peltier threw 109 pitches in moving his record to 7-2 on the season. The right-hander, who will play shortstop in the state finals against Wapakoneta, had 66 strikes in the two-hit performance.

Solid support: Andrew Simones played a big part in the victory scoring in the first and adding singles in the fifth and seventh innings. The center fielder for the Eagles also made a nice sliding catch in the third inning with one on and one away.

Season finale: What a senior class that will graduate for Tallmadge. The top six in the order are all seniors leaving a lot of holes to fill for head coach Kenny Linn. Junior outfielder Sam Seeker, sophomore first baseman Andrew Ayers and freshman catcher Eyre will be the players to build the team around in 2019.

What’s next?: The competition does not get any easier for Chaminade, with number one Wapakoneta on tap in the tournament finale.

LINESCORE

Chaminade          100 100 0 - 2 7 0
Tallmadge            001 000 0 - 1 2 4

Records: Chaminade Julienne 23-5, Tallmadge 19-12.

Winning Pitcher: Ryan Peltier (7 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 4 walks).

Losing Pitcher: Zach Boyd (6.1 innings, 2 runs, 1 earned run, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Mikah McGlaughlin.

Leading Hitters: (Chaminade) - Andrew Simones 2 singles; Ryan Peltier single, triple; AJ Solomon single; David Ernst single; Jack Huffman single. (Tallmadge) - Seth Gergely single; Scott Seeker single.