FREDERICKTOWN — Two familiar foes met in Division III Central District Sectional baseball action on Monday afternoon. The Northridge Vikings traveled to Fredericktown to take on their Mid-Buckeye Conference counterpart Freddies with the rights to continue the postseason on the line.
The two teams split the regular season series, so both expected a dogfight and that’s what they got. Fredericktown held an early 2-1 lead, but Northridge rallied with three runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth to earn a 5-4 victory.
“Overall, I didn’t think we played that great; we made six errors,” said Northridge coach Chris Hatton. “We kept slugging away and got the last out. That’s what matters.
“It was real tough (to beat Fredericktown a second time). That’s a good team. We had a chance to go in a different bracket, but we would have had a tougher second game so we went with the teams we knew. We were comfortable with Fredericktown and East Knox.”
The Vikings pounded out 12 hits to the Freddies’ three, but Fredericktown stranded nine runners on base.
“This is obviously really tough, but Northridge really competed,” said Fredericktown coach Matt Smith. “We had opportunities, but we left guys on base. That was definitely the difference, especially in a one-run ballgame. We were in the game, and that’s kind of been the story of our season. When we’ve lost, we’ve stranded guys on base and made one or two critical mistakes.
Sean Haines was the workhorse for the Vikings, pitching all seven innings. He allowed four runs — two earned — on three hits and six walks. Haines struck out 10 and hit one batter as well. Nate Chilcote suffered the loss for Fredericktown, despite pitching a solid game. Chilcote went seven innings, allowing 12 hits and five runs — three earned. He walked just one and struck out one.
The Vikings struck first as leadoff hitter Keith Remley singled in the top of the first inning. A groundout by Derek Hull moved Remley up to second and a single by Alan Witte advanced him to third. Haines then helped his own cause by singling to left, scoring Remley.
Fredericktown answered in the bottom of the inning as Haines walked two of the first three batters. Ty Fox, who led off and advanced on a Tyler Hathaway sacrifice, moved to third on a passed ball four, which left C.J. Ruhl on base. Fox then stole home on a double steal attempt. Witte threw the ball away, allowing Ruhl to advance all the way to third on the play. Ruhl came home after Thomas Hinkle grounded to Zack Harrod at third, and Harrod misplayed the ball. Jordan Radel followed with a single and Cole Hoeflich walked to load the bases before Haines got out of the inning with a strikeout.
The second and third innings were quiet, but Northridge made some noise in the fourth. Haines doubled to lead off and Ryan King singled to drive him in. Harrod followed with a single of his own and Alex Scott tried to drive King in with another single. King was thrown out at home, however. Tory Eckhardt followed with a single and advanced to second when the throw came home. Cody King then stepped in and grounded a ball off the glove of Ruhl, which allowed Harrod and Eckhardt to come home and make it a 4-2 game.
“We knew right from the get-go that this was going to be a battle,” Smith said. “This is a good Northridge team with some experience and some toughness. They played like we thought they would.”
Fredericktown managed to get one run back in the bottom of the inning after Cameron Moore was hit by a pitch. Pinch runner J.J. Eshelman eventually scored on an error by Witte, but the inning ended after Snyder was thrown out trying to advance to third on a passed ball.
A leadoff single by Hull turned into Northridge’s fifth run in the top of the fifth inning. Hull advanced to third on a pair of passed balls and came home on a groundout by Witte. Haines singled, making it a 3-for-3 day, but was stranded after a pair of outs ended the inning.
Northridge also threatened in the sixth and the seventh innings, but a double play by Snyder and a popout ended the threats.
“We hit the ball well,” said Hatton. “We didn’t always get the big hit when we needed it, but we did the little things to get runners into scoring position. Hopefully we will turn it around in our next game.”
Fredericktown, meanwhile, had a prime opportunity to go ahead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Back-to-back one-out walks to Moore and Snyder gave the Freddies base runners, and a sacrifice by Fox put them both in scoring position. Hathaway was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Moore came home after Ruhl was walked on four straight pitches in the next at-bat. Austin Hoeflich could have broke the game open with a single, but grounded a full-count pitch to Eckhardt at second, who in turn threw on to first for the final out of the inning.
Haines got the Freddies to go in order in the seventh to seal the victory.
“Haines pitched great,” said Hatton. “He was at 120 pitches entering that inning, but I didn’t want to take him out because he was pitching so well.”
With the victory, Northridge advances to face another MBC foe on Thursday. The Vikings travel to play East Knox in the second round at 5 p.m. Northridge swept the Bulldogs in the regular season.
“It will be another battle,” Hatton said. “We haven’t even seen their ace yet; I imagine (John) Burwell will be going for them. Hopefully, we will keep pitching the way we’ve been pitching. In the 14 innings, they’ve only scored two runs off of us, and that was in the last inning of the last game. I think it is going to be a duel.”
Fredericktown will have some time to reflect and plan for next year. A young Freddies team will be much improved by the time next season rolls around.
“Not to make excuses, but we return 15 of the 16 guys we had in the dugout tonight,” Smith said. “We are a young team and we got a lot of experience this year. This one hurts right now, but the future looks really bright.”
