Yellow Jackets sting TC 4-2 in sectional final

PERRYSBUG – Getting down early against a powerhouse like Perrysburg was a recipe for disaster for Columbian.The Tornadoes had missed opportunities in the first two innings - both offensively and defensively - and never recovered.No. 10 seed Columbian garnered four hits all day and just two over the final five innings, falling to the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets 4-2 in a Division I sectional final Wednesday."I thought we gave them a little bit early on," Columbian coach Nick Weber said. "Our energy was a little flat coming out. We talked about that after the first inning. We threw the ball around a little bit. That's a good baseball team there. You can't really spot them runs."The Tornadoes fell to 11-11. It's been a tough last 10 days for TC. The Tornadoes started last week in control of their own destiny in the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division title race. Losses to Bellevue and Perkins negated that chance. After a loss to Seneca East on Monday, Columbian has now lost four games in a row."I thought the young play on our team caught up," Weber said. "The last week, we've been in a lot of tough situations. We got beat by Perkins with a senior on the mound to our sophomore on the mound. It was a senior that has been there and done that. We're a young team. I couldn't be happier because I think we've learned a lot."The Tornadoes jumped on the board first against Perrysburg (16-10). In the first inning, Gavin McLane struck out, but reached safely on a dropped third strike. He then stole second and scored on Braylon Auble's single up the middle of the Yellow Jackets' defense.Undeterred, Perrysburg got its offense going quickly against TC starter Isaiah Tilse. With one out, Brady Zilles singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Matt Gast. Tilse then walked Matt Hubbard and gave up a RBI double to Abram Hire. With two outs, Hire stole third and came around to score on a throwing error on the steal attempt.It looked like the Tornadoes would have a big inning and answer right back. Tilse worked a walk at the dish to open the second inning. No. 7 hitter Landon Cook then took a 0-1 pitch and blasted it over the left fielder's head for what became a RBI triple.Primed to tie the game, TC missed on the opportunity. Hubbard countered with two strikeouts for Perrysburg before inducing a groundout back to the mound to keep the Yellow Jackets ahead."That is what we have been harping all year," Weber said. "We've been harping that we need to take advantage of the situations we have. We had a guy on third base with no outs and we're down 3-2 and we don't get anything out of it. That takes the wind out of your sails a little bit."Problems mounted for Columbian in the bottom half of the inning. Braden Heitmyer singled and went to second on an error. After a sacrifice bunt moved Heitmyer to third, Tilse got a big strikeout for the second out. It really looked like Tilse would escape the jam on a fly ball to the outfield, but two TC defenders collided as the ball fell. Zilles sprinted to third for the triple and 4-2 lead.For as close as the game was and easily could have been tied after two innings, Columbian trailed and never recovered."Hubbard made big pitches too," Weber said.Offensively, the Tornadoes struggled against Hubbard after the Cook triple. Hubbard sat down 10 in a row at one point. Columbian got just a fifth-inning single by Johnny Bremyer and sixth-inning knock from Auble."Hubbard had a lot of mix in his pitches," Weber said. "The first inning looked like he was throwing more curveballs. The second inning he comes back out and it is more heavy on the fastball. He adds the slider and when he got started, all three pitches came into play. I thought he located well. We had opportunities."Tilse worked in and out of sticky situations over the last few innings of his outing. He walked back-to-back hitters in the third to load the bases with one out. Wanting to avoid a bigger deficit, Tilse registered one of his six strikeouts before a flyout ended the inning."All we ask is that Isaiah keeps battling," Weber said. "He's a competitor. I think he grew again tonight and we've talked to him that he has been in a lot of tough situations this year. He has overcome a lot of them. He kept fighting for us. Isaiah is learning how to pitch and stay consistent throughout the game."In the fourth, Perrysburg loaded the bases, but another strikeout from Tilse quieted the Yellow Jackets' threat."I thought Isaiah settled in," Weber said. "They scored three in the first, one in the second and nothing after that. They had a lot of opportunities. He came to battle and I couldn't be prouder or the kid. The sky is the limit for him. We look forward to what he can do in the future for us."Columbian still has one more league game tonight at home against Sandusky."It's not the way we wanted to end it," Weber said. "We want to send our seniors off with a win. We have to keep growing. We have a lot of good players in that dugout that are coming back next year that we're very happy about."The Tornadoes will look to send seniors Cohen Hite, Jake Gelinas, Charles Ludwig and Cook out with a win and winning record when they suit up one more time for Columbian."Landon is a kid that shows up to work every single day with a wonderful attitude. I know he hasn't had the senior year he has wanted, but he's focused," Weber said. "Jake at the very beginning of the year had an opportunity to take his attitude and go negative because he wasn't getting the reps he did. He started to play a big role for us on the mound, offensively and defensively. Cohen and Charles, those are kids that were buried down in the bench and not getting the looks they wanted. They kept showing up every single day to make us better."