Badin walks away with victory against Clinton-Massie, 7-1

Robert Leifheit/Brett McKinney (24) of Badin watches his delivery as it approaches the plate during the Division III sectional final against Clinton Massie Monday, May 18th, 2009.

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By Jay Morrison, Staff Writer Updated 8:01 AM Tuesday, May 19, 2009

FRANKLIN — The Badin High School baseball team’s most recent victory was quite literally a walk in the park.

The Rams scored their first four runs with the help of seven walks and just one hit Monday, May 18, at Franklin Community Park, eventually cruising to a 7-1 victory against Clinton-Massie in a Division III sectional championship game.

The win upped Badin’s record to 25-1 and moved the squad into a 5 p.m. district final Saturday against Anna at Centerville.

“The kid (Falcons sophomore starter Gunner Calhoun) just couldn’t find the plate,” Rams coach Rick Kunkel said. “I’d much rather have seven hits than seven walks, but we didn’t hit the ball well today.”

The Rams’ lone hit through the first four innings was a Brett McKinney double that scored Zach Toerner to give Badin a 2-0 lead. Calhoun walked three of the next four batters to make it 3-0, spelling the end of his day.

“Coming into this game he had 88 strikeouts vs. only 28 walks,” said C-M coach Jeskee Zantene, whose team ended its season 11-10.

“Badin’s a great team, and he knew what he was going against,” Zantene continued. “I think being a 10th-grader, there was a little bit of nerves.”

McKinney, on the other hand, had no such control issues, at least not through the first six innings. The Ohio State University-bound senior fired a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts to improve to 6-0.

“When the other kid isn’t throwing strikes, it really makes you want to throw strikes,” said McKinney, who finished with five walks, including three in a row in the seventh inning. “I knew we were gonna have runners on and get some runs, so I didn’t want to try to do too much.”

In addition to his work on the mound, McKinney finished 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of doubles. Bud Brown, Scott Staarmann and pinch-hitter Jeff Smith added RBI singles. And Brown plated another run with a sacrifice fly.

Frankie Pate added an RBI on a bases-loaded walk.

“We had some key hits when we had to have them, and some guys who have been struggling came through, so that was good,” Kunkel said. “A win is a win. It wasn’t real pretty, but we’ll take it.”

Badin played errorless defense behind McKinney, turning a 3-6 (Toerner to Jake Wurzelbacher) double play in the sixth inning. Catcher Tony Cassano also threw out a pair of C-M runners trying to steal second.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.

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