Tornadoes can't find key hit as incredible tourney run comes to an end

Sometimes the baseball Gods are in your favor, sometimes they're against you. It just so happened to be the latter for Columbian Saturday in a tough 3-0 Division III district final loss to Wapakoneta at Tiffin University's Paradiso Complex.The Tornadoes had everything to win a big game like Saturday's – senior ace Isaiah Tilse dealing on the mound, a solid defense behind him and enough hits to fill the bases with runners. The only thing TC couldn't do Saturday was find that key hit to drive in any of those runners. Wapakoneta pitcher Drew Bailey did pitch effectively with nine strikeouts in the win in his complete game, but he wasn't untouchable. The Tornadoes had plenty of chances with six hits, leaving five runners in scoring position, including loading the bases in the final inning with just one out. But in the end … nothing on the scoreboard."Bailey made the pitches when he had to today, but that's also a really good team over there defensively," TC coach Nick Weber said. "I told our guys it's the game of baseball, this run we've been on this last week and a half, those types of things have kind of gone our way a little bit and those balls didn't find gloves. "Today, we had second and third with Ethan Wilcox up and he scorches a liner to first base, but he catches it … that's the game of baseball. I thought we played really well, but that's a tough team. We battled and I'm really proud with where we're at right not to be honest, that's kudos to the kids."Both pitchers were dealing early neither was really threatened in the first two innings. Tilse had four strikeouts.But in the bottom of the third, the Redskins (20-5) finally got something going. After an out to begin the frame, Jarrett Mullen drew a walk and then ran to third on a bad throw to first after a Grant Jolly groundball. The Tornadoes did get Jolly out at second, but Mullen getting to third base actually was a big deal as Bailey smoked an RBI single past third base to score the first run.TC (11-16) really threatened the Redskins in the fifth as Braden Egbert got on base on a fielder's choice grounder, but then stole second base and then got to third on a passed ball. But he was left stranded as Redskins' third baseman Daron Houser threw out Jayce Arias just in time on a grounder he bobbled just a bit to prevent TC a run.In the bottom-half of the fifth, Wapakoneta tacked on a pair of insurance runs as the top two players in their lineup – Jolly and Bailey – stepped up big when the Redskins needed them to. After an out to begin things, Zach Fisher singled to center and then stole second to get into scoring position. After the second out, TC decided not to intentionally walk Jolly, which did backfire as Jolly scorched an RBI single up the middle and then Bailey lined an RBI double to left field to give the Redskins a 3-0 advantage."It was a battle out there because Isaiah Tilse was lights out out there for them," Redskins coach Jason Brandt said. "We knew it was going to be a struggle, but our guys continued to battle. We talked yesterday about shooting the ball to the right side because we knew he was a harder thrower and we knew having some younger guys, it's hard to catch up to 85 (mph). But his off-speed was really good early too. "For us to squeeze across a run early and then Drew Bailey with a big hit there again, and Grant Jolly … those two guys made us go and then the rest of the guys went with them."Just two days before, the Tornadoes trailed Lexington 8-2, so 3-0 was nothing for the Tornadoes.They continued to battle and keep the pressure on the Redskins as Bradley Willman belted a double to right center in the sixth, Conner Reese followed with a walk, but after another solid defensive play to end the inning, TC stranded runners on third and second. The biggest TC threat of the whole game came in the seventh as Jamison Woessner smacked a single to left, followed by an infield single from Braden Egbert. After Bailey got a strikeout, Arias was jammed, but muscled out a single to center to load the bases. But Bailey delivered back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.Tilse took the loss in his final time on the mound for the Tornadoes, giving up two earned runs on six hits in six innings of work. He fanned nine and only walked one on 89 pitches."I'm really gonna miss putting him on the mound. It's been a pleasure the last three years to watch him pitch," Weber said of Tilse. "He's literally pitched in every big game that we've had in the last the last years. I'm extremely proud of him and I'm excited to watch him grow. He's going to excel at the next level. "I'm proud of him, Bradley Willman and Dallas Glenn – the other two seniors – to just give everything they had to this program for four years. They played really hard."A few weeks ago, a shot at a district title would've been a long shot for the rebuilding Tornadoes. But getting hot at the right time propelled them to three tournament wins, including ousting the No. 1 team in the state – Defiance. "We just started to play free, play loose with no pressure on us. We just went out and played our game," Weber said of the late-season run. "It's awesome to be in this situation because these younger guys now know what it takes. You have to have some games like this that don't go your way to see what it takes. "I'm proud of them in how they rebounded these past two weeks. We played a lot of good baseball and beat some really good teams in there. Now, we have to go back to work. We'll miss those guys graduating a lot, but we know we can do this again if we want to."