Huron rallies past Columbian 9-6

FREMONT – Realistically, if Columbian scores six runs with Isaiah Tilse on the mound, the Tornadoes win that game about 90-95 percent of the time.It just so happened that five or 10 percent was in Huron's favor Thursday in a Division II district semifinal at Fremont Ross.After TC led 4-1 after one inning and then continued to lead 6-4 after three innings, the Tornadoes had to be feeling good given who was pitching.However, Huron, a really good hitting team, battled Tilse in every at bat and knocked him out of the game after only 3 2/3 innings after he tossed 113 pitches.The Tigers' bats were humming at the right times Thursday as they ended Columbian's season with a 9-6 win."That's a tough lineup 1-9. There wasn't an off-guy that you can take a deep breath on," TC coach Nick Weber said. "They are extremely well coached, very good baseball team. Having (Landon) Hohler come in to close out the last four innings was big for them, but I'm proud of us."Yeah, we made some mistakes where we kicked the ball around that cost us some runs, but we battled. This senior group has been awesome and I can't wait to see what they do moving forward."Huron (16-12) scored in the top of the first on a bad hop on a ground ball that skipped by Bryce Roggow at short as Austin Wasily drove in Hohler. But TC (15-13) responded right away as the game got even stranger from there.TC scored four runs on only one hit in the bottom of the first as Blake Gaulden reached on an error, Roggow walked, Braylon Auble singled to left and then Taleb Al-Zakwani was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and then Johnny Bremyer drew a walk to score another run. Then Jamison Woessner hit a popup in the infield, which was ruled an infield fly rule, but the Huron first baseman didn't catch the ball and then the Tigers threw the ball away past third base allowing two runs to score."These guys offensively in the last couple of weeks have really picked it up," Tigers coach Dan Lindsley said. "We had a game plan with Tilse today to build a pitch count for him and we did a good job of that. We got behind with some errors with some things we don't usually do, but this team just doesn't buckle. "We kept saying to inch back in it and we did that. Felt like that first three innings took about two and a half hours, but credit to them, (TC) has a great program. Tilse had a good year and with all of their guys they had a good lineup, so we knew internally saying that we couldn't keep making errors to win, but we kept battling."Tilse walked in a run in the second frame, but TC got the run back in the bottom of the second as Roggow blasted an RBI triple to right center.But Huron came right back as Donni Hartley lined a two-run double to left center, but TC upped the lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the third on a squeeze bunt from Tilse scoring Bremyer.However, Huron essentially won the game in the top of the fourth with three runs as Wasily slapped a grounder to right field to score two and Wasily then scored on an error on a bad throw to first base.Tilse ended his day giving up seven runs (three earned) on six hits with six walks and 10 strikeouts."When you walk the leadoff guy on four straight pitches it kind of sets the tone for that inning, but I thought we did a good job at points of limiting the damage, but they did a good job hitting a gap when they needed to hit a gap on an 0-2 pitch we left over the plate," Weber said. "Isaiah wasn't sharp by any means, but at this point of the season everyone is tired, but I'd take Isaiah any day over any one we come across any day. The kid is a competitor, but it's one of those days you tip your hat to Huron. We'll see if they can keep this run going."The Tigers added two insurance runs in the seventh as Hohler's ability to keep TC hitters off-balance with an effective curveball was key. He pitched the final 5 1/3 innings, giving up only one run on two hits. He fanned 10 and walked two."Landon is only a sophomore, but he's a gamer. He has a good pedigree, just battling. He settled in out there and good things happened," Lindsley said.It surely wasn't the ending Columbian wanted, but in the end, the Tornadoes won a share of the SBC Lake and sent a good group of experienced seniors out with a winning season."There were some ups and downs this season and when we were up we were a really good team and tough to beat, but it's baseball. It's a journey and there's a lot of games in a short amount of time," Weber said. "It kind of wares on your body and of course we wanted to win today and get out of this district."It's been kind of nice writing that same lineup over and over again for the last two years for me anyway and I know these guys have been in it for the last four. To have that guy in the three-hole hitter Bryce Roggow, it's been comforting, and it will be a huge hole to fill, but we also have a lot of holes all over the lineup with Gavin McLane, Taleb Al-Zakwani, AJ Hickman, Elijah Haman, Quinton Tucker, Maximus Fortney and Braylon Auble have all been great leaders for our team. It gives some guys an opportunity to step up, but we have some holes to fill for sure."