KALIDA \u2014 Competing at its first state ACME tournament in five years, Archbold made a statement in its opening game, shutting out Perrysburg 3-0 in a battle of two of the top baseball programs in northwest Ohio Saturday at Kalida\u2019s Holy Name Ballpark.<\/p>\n
After advancing to the state final four, the Bluestreaks were bested in the semifinal Sunday, plating the tying run in the seventh before St. Henry scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the inning to defeat Archbold 6-5.<\/p>\n
Archbold used a complete game to defeat Perrysburg, using a superb approach at the plate paired with a dominant effort from Isaiahs Gracia on the mound and a strong defense behind him.<\/p>\n
The Bluestreaks, who end the summer at 14-5 overall, consistently hit the ball up the middle and the other way, fronted by Gracia with a pair of hits out of the three-hole.<\/p>\n
Archbold\u2019s 5-6-7 spots in the order came through in the clutch, as each player drove in a run.<\/p>\n
Grayson Forward plated the game\u2019s first run in the second inning, as Jace Bernath and Brooks Miller led off with consecutive singles and Bernath advanced to third on a double-play groundout. Forward followed with an RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrayson had a big hit up the middle, and he\u2019s kind of been gone for a week or so, too. So for him to come in here and play a good game was excellent,\u201d Archbold coach Kevin Mignin said. \u201cAnd really the entire batting order, top to bottom today, was solid.<\/p>\n
The Streaks loaded the bases with nobody out in the third inning and failed to score, but the confidence never wavered.<\/p>\n
Gracia led off the bottom of the sixth inning with an opposite-field single and Bernath took a walk to force a Perrysburg mound visit and pitching change.<\/p>\n
Miller, after Gracia and Bernath both stole a base, drove in a run with a long flyout in foul territory down the right-field line. Elijah Verhoff followed with an RBI single, throwing his hands at the pitch to knock the ball to centerfield for a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been the strength for us is our at-bats. And today, honestly, we just hit it right at them a few times too. We were a few hits away from really blowing this wide open,\u201d Mignin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooks Miller, we\u2019ve had him in the middle of the lineup all year and he just thrives there, he\u2019s excellent in that role. He\u2019s one of them and it\u2019s the same thing with Verhoff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gracia set the tone early for Archbold, striking out the side in the first inning and tallying seven strikeouts through the first three innings.<\/p>\n
After a one-out a walk and an ensuing double, Gracia was tasked with escaping a fourth-inning jam with two runners in scoring position and just one out.<\/p>\n
Gracia struck out the next batter, and after hitting a Yellow Jacket to load the bases, induced a flyout to escape the inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a statement in my opinion,\u201d Mignin said of the win. \u201cWe shut them down and it\u2019s a huge game for Zay. He came in here fired up, and he showed up today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gracia finished with 13 strikeouts in 6 1\/3 scoreless innings. He allowed four hits and seven walks.<\/p>\n
Forward came in for the final two outs, getting both batters to strikeout looking to end the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrayson\u2019s been a solid pitcher for us and I knew he\u2019d come in and throw strikes,\u201d Mignin said. \u201cSo we kind of had him pegged as, you\u2019re gonna come in, just throw some fastballs, try to make them put it in play, or in his case, strike them out.<\/p>\n
In Sunday\u2019s game, Archbold jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two innings, but St. Henry scored twice in the third and added three runs in the fifth inning to take the lead.<\/p>\n
After Gracia and Forward led off the top of the seventh with consecutive singles, Verhoff tied the game with an RBI double to left field.<\/p>\n
The Redskins responded in the bottom half of the inning, drawing a five=pitch walk before three straight singles drove in the winning run.<\/p>\n
Gracia (1 RBI) and Forward paced the Bluestreaks with three hits apiece, while Verhoff singled and doubled with two RBI.<\/p>\n
Aranjer Krieger took the loss on the mound, allowing six runs \u2014 only four earned \u2014 and seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Holgate falls in nightcap heartbreaker<\/p>\n
After not taking the field until nearly 9 p.m. Saturday night, Holgate had a forgettable start to its first state ACME game in program history.<\/p>\n
Kalida, the host school, opened with back-to-back singles before Holgate pitcher Vincent Peck hit the next batter to load the bases before an out was recorded.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats scored on a wild pitch, a groundout plated another run and a error at second base pushed Kalida\u2019s lead to 3-0.<\/p>\n
Peck, though, settled in from there, escaping the inning with a groundout and a strikeout to limit the damage before holding Kalida scoreless for the next five innings.<\/p>\n
The Tigers\u2019 offense picked up Peck\u2019s rough first inning by matching the Cats\u2019 three runs, as Zack Boecker was hit by a pitch and Izayah Martinez ripped a one-out single.<\/p>\n
Holgate rallied with two outs from there, as Evan Crumrine belted an RBI single to left field, Colton Wilhelm took a walk and Gage Wilhelm line a two-RBI double to right-center to tie the game.<\/p>\n
The Tigers scored three more runs in the second inning and played a run in the third and fourth frames for an 8-3 lead, which it took into the seventh inning.<\/p>\n
But Holgate opted for a pitching change in the seventh and Kalida scored 10 runs in the inning, earning five walks with six hits in the frame, end route to a 13-8 win over the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Crumrine led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and Logan Geahlen added a two-out hit, but Holgate was unable to score.<\/p>\n
Crumrine paced the Tigers with a game-high four hits and three RBI, while Boecker (1 RBI, 2 runs) and Gage Wilhelm (1-BB, 2 RBI) both had two hits.<\/p>\n
Peck, who doubled and drove in a run, earned the no decision on the mound after allowing three runs \u2014 two earned \u2014 and just two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in six innings.<\/p>\n
Holgate, after winning just one of its first six games, finishes the summer at 8-7 overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KALIDA \u2014 Competing at its first state ACME tournament in five years, Archbold made a statement in its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,2323,2314,2317,2313,2413,93809,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,1944,92915,2350,1039],"class_list":["post-756699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-events","tag-baseball-finals","tag-baseball-games","tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","tag-champion-seasons-in-major-league-baseball","tag-kalida","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","tag-major-league-baseball-teams","tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-ohio","tag-perrysburg","tag-strikeout","tag-world-series"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}