Hamilton Joes hold on to take title

Joes end season with Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League tourney championship.

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 8:13 AM Monday, August 9, 2010

GRANVILLE — The Hamilton Joes took care of their final goal Saturday night, Aug. 7, and that was to celebrate.

Brad Krohman’s season-ending strikeout started the party for Hamilton, which captured the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League tournament title in just its second summer of wood-bat baseball.

The Joes swept the best-of-three championship series against the regular-season champion Licking County Settlers, capping a 29-15 campaign with their 7-5 triumph at Denison University.

“Oh ... my ... gosh,’’ said Krohman, a Florence, Ky., native who earned the save with 1 1/3 innings of work. “These kids are awesome. We had great, great chemistry all year, everybody played their butts off, and the coaching staff was unbelievable. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Wally Gerbus and Patrick Curtin both had three hits to power Hamilton’s offense, which banged out 16 hits in Game 2 after collecting 18 in the opener.

Kyle Weldon, Kevin Park and Chris Pearson all had two hits and an RBI for the Joes, who turned three double plays. Park launched his only home run of the season, Curtin, Ryan Rua and Phil Bauer plated a run apiece, and Gerbus stole four bases.

“I’m so happy,” Hamilton coach Darrel Grissom said. “I just saw the last two seasons flash before my eyes. I can’t even describe how much fun I’ve had with these kids. They love to play the game.

“Now that we’re the champions, hopefully we’ve got something we can build on for years to come,” he added. “We’re setting a high standard for ourselves. We expect to be in the playoffs every year.”

It wasn’t easy for Hamilton, which took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning, only to watch the Settlers (31-13) score three times, twice on Adam Walker’s home run.

But Krohman put out the fire with a strikeout, and Pearson’s RBI single provided some insurance in the ninth. Krohman retired the first two batters in the bottom of the frame, then fanned Chris Dudics (with Walker on deck) after John McCambridge reached base on an error.

“There’s nothing better than coming in on somebody else’s field and hearing the crowd and pitching the ninth inning,” Krohman said. “It’s undescribable. My arm felt great. I just tried to relax and throw it the way my dad taught me.”

Max Friedman pitched 6 2/3 innings to get the win. Evan Hock followed before Krohman slammed the door.

“Credit Hamilton,” said Licking County coach Brian Meyer, who was ejected after arguing a call in the top of the seventh inning. “There’s mixed emotions for sure, but I’m very proud of our guys. We ask them to play hard for nine innings, and they did that each and every game.”

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