TIFFIN – J.R. Davis isn’t typically an emotional guy.
But even he couldn’t hold back tears after Lexington’s comeback attempt fell short in extras against Sylvania Southview in a Division III district title game; the two-seeded Cougars won 5-4 in nine innings over the five-seed Minutemen.
“One of our goals was to make the district championship,” Davis said. “It has been hanging over their heads for the longest time, so being able to do that, I’m happy I could help them out with that.
“It’s sad because this is such a great group of kids. When I came over they welcomed me with open arms, I’ve just had so much fun coaching.”
The emotion after the game shows just how much this spring has meant to Davis. He took over the program in mid-September and worked tirelessly to make an impact in his debut season.
“We started off the year 0-4 and everybody was struggling, we were trying to figure out what to do,” Davis said. “Then we end up 19-9 and that just tells the fight these guys have, they’re not gonna give up.”
Ironically the Minutemen found themselves trailing 4-0 heading into the seventh inning after the Cougars scored one in the second, one in the fourth, and two in the sixth. Through the first six innings Lexington had mustered just two hits against Southview’s Ben Kotnik who had thrown just nine innings in the month of May, but got the nod Thursday.
“Coming in (Luke) Girlie was probably our No. 2, but due to an injury he had to catch,” Southview coach Tim McCarthy said. “I thought maybe Benny’s arm slot with that sling would give them some problems and he threw a great game.”
He was right as Kotnik’s unique delivery from the side caused the Minutemen all sorts of issues for a majority of the game.
“We struggled for six innings to hit the ball and put the ball in play against him … we were surprised when we saw him coming in with the stats he had, he didn’t throw that many innings this year,” Davis said. “But he came in and shoved it, he just kept us off balance and did a helluva job today.”
But once Markale Martin led off the seventh with a single up the middle, you could tell something special was brewing. Cooper Clark followed with a shot to right field and Carson Fisher was walked to load the bases. A sac fly from Brayden Vance scored Martin, Ben Young’s single scored Clark, Tyler Galownia drove in Fisher, and Jack Eichorn’s sac fly to centerfield tied the game seeing Young cross home plate.
In the bottom, Cole Eichorn struck out the first batter, walked the second, then struck out the next two to send it to extras.
Lexington drew a lead-off walk and then saw Martin intentionally walked to get runners on, but Cooper Clark grounded into a double play. Southview’s Girlie hit a one-out single then saw his next two teammates intentionally walked to load the bases strategically — Cole Eichorn struck out the final two batters to get out of the jam and cap off a phenomenal effort on the bump.
“Unbelievable,” Davis said of his senior pitcher. “There were several times I had the earpiece to talk to him and I went out there once in the eighth inning and told him — hey man, it’s the last batter — because he was at 120 or something, and he ended up striking out the kid ending up at 122. So I went to the mix and said — you got one more — he just keeps battling.
“At the beginning of the year he wasn’t our No. 2, we were thinking of making him a non-conference guy. But with some pitching situations we had, he found his way to be our No. 2 throughout the year. Having him come in, me trusting him throwing in that situation and going eight innings until your arm falls off … I’m just very proud.”
Girlie took the mound for the Cougars and struck out the side in the top of the ninth before going on to blast a ball into right field with two outs scoring Adam LePla for the walk-off.
“We knew we had to play clean defensively, which we did, and battle through a little adversity,” McCarthy said. “We had a 4-0 lead and you hope it’s over after that, but credit to them for battling back to tie the game and both of us trading blows at the end leaving guys on. We were just fortunate enough for Luke to get that hit there.
“That was the hit of a lifetime, a game-winning hit in a district final.”
The loss brought an end to the careers of 10 seniors, seven of which were starters. Eichorn finished with 11 strikeouts, six hits allowed, five walks, and four runs along with two hits and a walk drawn on offense; Galownia had an RBI single; Martin and Clark had a hit, run, walk apiece; Young had a hit, run, and RBI.
“I’m not a crier, but these kids are so great and that’s what makes this so difficult,” Davis said.
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lexington baseball’s comeback attempt falls short in district final
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