By Dylan Hefflinger

 

COLUMBUS- Travis Clark pitched No. 18 Lima Central Catholic to a victory over No. 2 Orwell Grand Valley 2-0. LCC advances to the state championship game to face No. 3 Wheelersburg who defeated No. 21 Frederick 3-0.

 

Clark threw a three-hitter striking out three. The junior righty needed the throw just 64 pitches, throwing 48 for strikes in the complete game. Clark featured a high 70s fastball and a high 60s offspeed to keep the Mustangs off balance.

 

LCC broke through in the 5^th inning off of Mustangs starter Mitchell Lake to score two. A lead-off walk to Corey O'Dowd, followed by a single up the middle by Colin Stoly. A sacrifice bunt by Clark moved the runners up to second and third. Connor Dee and Sam Huffman had back to back sacrifice flies to score O'Dowd and Stolly to put the T-Birds up 2-0.

 

Grand Valley starting pitcher Mitchell Lake went five innings allowing two runs, one earned on four hits and three walks. Lake struck out four.

 

The Mustangs never really had a chance to score off of Clark, advancing a runner to second just once, coming in the 3^rd inning. Grand Valley bows out of the tournament with a 30-2 .

 

LCC improves to 22-8 in advancing to the state championship for the first time in school history.