The South Oldham Dragons (26-8) won a 6-5 thriller in the Eighth Region Semifinals against the Simon Kenton Pioneers (21-12) on a walk-off by Joseph Closurdo on Wednesday night at Thomas More Stadium.
The win clinches South Oldham’s first appearance in the Eighth Region Finals since 2018, the last time it won the region. South Oldham head coach Ryan Wheat is proud of his team and has really enjoyed coaching them in his first year at the helm. He feels like the schedule early on this season has built toughness with his group to allow them to succeed in close games.
“We just trust what we do,” Wheat said. “It’s hard sometimes, but that’s what we do. Luke Belardo is a really, really good player, and he’s done that a couple times this year. I think that was his 10th [home run]. It just kind of shows where he’s at, because the first at bat wasn’t great. You kind of see the evolution of it. We know that we can trust him in it, and if he doesn’t do it, we feel okay if he doesn’t. We want to give him the opportunity to do it. That’s why we play.”
Sophomore Ryan Francis got the start for the Dragons on the bump. He tossed three innings before senior Colton Motta came in relief to throw two innings. Sophomore Gabe Donnelly and senior Dawson Russell came in to close out the game in the final three innings. This was the first game Donnelly came out of the bullpen in relief.
“A baseball game is way easier to manage when everything goes perfect, and when it doesn’t, you have to call on the guys,” Wheat said. “I told them in a meeting. One of my mentors and friends, MJ Sword, told me a long time ago, ‘hey, you don’t know when you’re going to have to bring in a stopper. It could be the second. It could be the fourth. It could be the seventh.’ That was just ringing in my head, and he did an unbelievable job.”
Francis began the game strong, putting the Pioneers down in order in the top of the first. Senior Luke Lawson began the game on the bump for Simon Kenton. Lawson forced a pop up in the lead-off at bat. South junior Peyton Layne earned the first hit of the game with a ground-rule double.
Russell followed with an RBI single to give South an early lead. Francis singled to put two runners on base before a rain delay paused the game for about 10 minutes. In the first pitch back, Lawson ended the first inning with a strikeout.
After the rain delay, Francis was working through a slippery mound due to the turf field. Francis struck out two in another three up, three down inning to begin the second. Dragon sophomore Jake Dillon reached second base on an error to lead off the bottom of the second. Junior Joseph Closurdo put runners on the corners with an infield single.
Senior Luke Belardo batted Dillon in on a fielder’s choice. After a line out, junior Keith Mitchell hit a rope down the left field line for an RBI single to give South Oldham a 3-0 lead. Simon Kenton senior Caleb French made a diving catch to end the second inning, saving multiple runs and stranding two Dragon runners.
“We were squaring them up,” Russell said. “We were hitting balls hard everywhere. They just made a couple of great plays. They made that diving catch in center field that saved probably three runs. We were squaring them up hard. We knew what he had. We saw it. He threw through the lineup five times.”
Simon Kenton got its first base runner on a walk by junior Billy Dennis in the leadoff bat in the top of the third. After a strikeout, Lawson picked up the first hit for the Pioneers. Francis forced a ground ball, but an error turning a double play scored the first run for Simon Kenton.
A walk loaded the bases before another walk cut the Pioneer deficit to one run. Francis got out of the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout. Lawson put the Dragons down in order to end the third inning.
Simon Kenton put two runners on base with a double by French and a walk by Dennis. After an out, Lawson hit a single to load the bases before senior Caleb Uhl gave the Pioneers a 4-3 lead on a two-run single. Motta bounced back, forcing a double play to end the top for the fourth.
Lawson ended the fourth inning, putting the Dragons down in order for the second consecutive inning. Motta followed, putting the Pioneers down in order in the top of the fifth.
Layne led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. In the next at bat, Mitchell struck the ball hard towards third base, but junior Jude McDaniel caught the line drive and threw Layne out at first base for a double play. Lawson forced a ground out to end the fifth.
Dennis drew his third walk of the game, and senior Logan Lawson followed with a walk of his own to start the top of the sixth for Simon Kenton. After a sacrifice bunt, senior Charlie Overton came into the game to pinch hit and extended the Pioneer lead to two runs on an RBI single.
In the next at bat, Donnlley made a diving catch on a bunt attempt before running to first base for a double play to strand two Pioneer runners. Francis came back into the game to pinch hit and led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and moved to third base on a balk. Dillon drove Francis in with an RBI single. Lawson kept the Pioneer lead and ended the sixth with consecutive pop ups.
“[Francis] might be one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever coached,” Wheat said. “I’ve done this a really long time, and even when he’s sliding all over the place [on the mound], he didn’t really care. He was mad when I took him out of the game. It was one of those situations where it was like we’ll trust him in every big game that we play, because he throws strikes, especially when the mound is not like an ice skating ring. He’s an extremely competitive kid. He’s tough. He likes those moments.”
Donnelly and Russell combined to throw a three up, three down inning in the top of the seventh. Belardo led off the top of the seventh, crushing the ball down the left field line. The ball drilled the foul pole for a solo home run to tie the game.
“The at bat before that, I was a little out in front,” Belardo said. “All I was trying to do is just sit back a little bit more and get my timing better, do anything I can to put the team in a good spot.”
Simon Kenton junior Jeffery Young came into the game and immediately gave up a walk. Mitchell hit the ball hard in the next at bat, but the ball fell in play on the warning track and was caught for an out. Young forced extra innings with a ground out and a fly out.
Russell forced a ground ball in the first at bat of extras. Dillon ran over from his position at second base and scooped the ball and threw it while falling away from first base, earning the first out of the inning. Russell struck out the next two batters to put the Pioneers down in order to begin the eighth.
“I’m going to call out my guy Jake on that play up the middle. That was unbelievable,” Russell said. “That’s one of the best plays I’ve seen, ever, but I just went up there. I saw that they were not hitting the breaking ball well at all, so I knew if I landed them, they weren’t going to hit me very hard.”
With one out in the bottom half of the eighth, Dillon reached second base on an error before senior Jair Funes put runners on the corners with a single. Closurdo laid down a bunt in the next at, allowing Dillon to race home and score on a walk-off bunt to give the Dragons a 6-5 win, advancing them to regional championship.
“I just stayed calm and composed and just know it’s just a game, just go up there and do your best,” Closurdo said. “You’re here for a reason and just go up there and compete and do what you do.”
The win means a lot to Russell, Belardo and Closurdo. Russell feels like this game proved that South can win any type of game, and Closurdo is proud to be able to make it this far with this group of guys.
“It means a ton. I love these guys, love this group,” Closurdo said. “[We need to keep] coming out here and keep stacking game by game, be in the moment.”
South Oldham will travel back to the Thomas More Stadium to take on the North Oldham Mustangs (23-6) on Thursday night at 5 p.m. in the Eighth Region Championship.
“I think the biggest thing is that we just don’t worry about who we play and focus on us and how we do it,” Wheat said. “I’m trying to offend anybody or anything, but we can’t play another team. We have to do what we do, and we have to focus on us. We have to just go at it.”
For Beladro, he knows getting to the region finals is a great achievement, but he knows there is still work to be done heading into the championship game.
“Coach Wheat talked about it, enjoy the moment right now,” Belardo said. “When we get home and get to bed, it’s kind of over, just wake up tomorrow, a new day and completely forget about it and move on and just go 100% on tomorrow’s game.”