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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 IV State Semifinal - #10 Fort Loramie vs #11 Trinity

COLUMBUS – Fort Loramie pushed across single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to rally past Garfield Heights Trinity 2-1 in the Division IV semifinals Thursday morning at Huntington Park.

Junior left-hander Jared Middendorf fired a three-hitter for the victory, overcoming early control problems to shut down the 11th-rated team in the state. Middendorf fanned six and walked five, four coming in the first two innings.

Trailing 1-0, the 10th-ranked Redskins tied the game in the sixth. WIth one away, Carter Mescher reached on a bunt single just off the glove of a diving Trinity pitcher Jake Visha. A stolen base and a pop out followed, before CJ Billing lined a triple over the head of Trinity center fielder Jack DiPronio to plate Mescher with the first Fort Loramie run.

An inning later, the Redskins again made things happen with one down. Mike Hoying was hit by a pitch and Ben Barhorst came into to pinch run. After a walk to Devin Wehrman, Clay Anderson was summoned into hurl for the Trojans. Barhorst advanced to third on a passed ball and scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Shane Hilgefort.

Middendorf then sent down Trinity one-two-three in the last of thee seventh, striking out the final batter for his sixth K of the game.

Trinity’s lone run off Middendorf came in the fifth, when Zach Mammana led off with a double to left-center field. Michael Clancy’s sacrifice bunt moved Mammana to third and when the throw to first was wild, Mammana came home.

Hot Takes

Key play: With the bases loaded in the second and the top of the order coming to the plate, Trinity was threatening to take command. However, Middendorf came through with a key strikeout. Outside of the fifth inning, only one other Trojan reached base after that important strikeout.

Strong in defeat: For five innings against a Fort Loramie team with an overall .370 batting average, Visha was nearly unhittable for Trinity. The Gannon commit allowed only one of the first 14 Fort Loramie batters to reach base when Wehrman singled in the third, A double play quickly ended that threat.

Player of the game: With the exception of the fifth inning, Middendorf was dominant after the second. The junior allowed only a third-inning single by Danny Strenk, who was promptly erased with a double play. The final pitch of the game for Middendorf was his fastest of the contest, an 83 mph full-count strikeout.

Season finale: With seven senior starters, first-year head coach Randy Rundgren’s squad will be young next season after the Trojans made it to state for the second time in school history. The other trip to the Final Four came in 1984 when Trinity was a 5-3 loser to Coldwater in the Class AA semifinals.

What’s next?: Now in the state final’s for the third time in a dozen seasons, Fort Loramie will attempt to keep that record clean. The Redskins won state titles in 2007 and 2010.

Linescore

Fort Loramie    000 001 1 - 2 4 1
Trinity                 000 010 0 - 1 3 0

Records: Fort Loramie 26-6, Trinity 22-4

Winning Pitcher: Jared Middendorf (7 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 6 strikeouts, 5 walks).

Losing Pitcher: Jake Visha (6.1 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks).

Leading Hitters: (Fort Loramie) - CJ Billing double; Carter Mescher single; Bill Rosengarten single; Devin Wehrman single (Trinity) - Zach Mammana double; Clay Anderson single; Danny Strenk single.