By Dylan Hefflinger

COLUMBUS- Stellar defense and solid pitching are the keys to a championship team and No. 6 Wapakoneta exhibited both of those in a 3-2 thrilling victory over No. 9 West Holmes.

 

Junior Caleb Zwiebel may not have picked up a bat during the game, but the center fielder sealed a victory with one of several web gems for the Redskins. In the bottom of the seventh with a runner on third and two outs, up 3-2 Zwiebel made an outstanding diving catch to preserve the victory for Wapak.

 

Wapak fell behind early as West Holmes hopped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1^st off Redskins lefty Johnny Crawford. Senior Mason James led the bottom of the 1^st off with an infield single and scored on an RBI triple by junior Vayden Woods, who rounded third too much and was called out.

 

Wapak scored single runs in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th. Junior Dom Campos drove junior catcher Brandon Schreiber in with an RBI single in the 4^th. Crawford had an RBI double to right scoring junior Alex Koch in the 5^th. Junior Josh Apple scored Campos on an RBI single in the 6^th to put the Redskins up 3-1.

 

West Holmes had its chance in the 7^th. James scored on an RBI ground out by senior Joey Gonzalez to cut the deficit to 3-2, before Zwiebel made the play of the game in center.

 

The junior Crawford went the distance allowing two runs, only one earned. The lefty gave up six hits and three walks, while striking out five. Crawford was consistently in the 82-85 mph range, moving to 10-0 on the season.

Apple finished the day with three hits and eight assists defensively from shortstop, including four outstanding plays. Campos added two singles for the Redskins.

 

Junior Gabe Snyder fell to 9-1 on the season allowing three runs in on 10 hits, while striking out four. The lefty was consistently in the low 80s. Sophomore Dillon Baird, another lefty, came in relief and threw 1 1/3 innings allowing a hit and walk while striking out one. Baird got the fastball up to 89 mph, sitting in the 86-87 range. West Holmes closes out its season with a 23-7 record.

 

Wapak (25-5) moves on to face the defending champion No. 5 Columbus St. Francis DeSales (25-6) for the Division II championship at 10 a.m. on Saturday.