That 1975 squad was the first baseball team in school history to make it to state, and Badin advanced to the Class AA championship game, where it suffered a particularly agonizing defeat.
“It lingered through the years,” said Kreke, the longtime Fenwick basketball coach who won the 1981 Class A state baseball title as the Falcons’ head coach. “You’re the first Badin team to go to the state tournament, you’ve got the ballgame won, and it slips away. It lingered a long time.”
The Rams went 31-8 in 1975 under the direction of Bill Hogan. It was his only year as the head coach.
Stocked with a talented senior group that included Kreke, Charlie Crain, Dan Scheffel, Dave Puma, Tom Tracy, Marty Mayer, Claude Chaney, Jim Clear and Jay Ryan, Hogan said it was a special season.
“I loved baseball, but I was a basketball guy,” said Hogan, now the athletic director at Seattle University. “It was just one of those things where my hope was not to screw it up because it was already pretty good from the year before. A lot of those guys went on to play in college.”
Powered by the 1-2 mound punch of Scheffel and Tracy, Badin earned a state semifinal berth at Ohio State University. It was a rainy time, but once the Rams got on the field, they blanked Columbus St. Charles 4-0 behind Scheffel’s four-hitter.
“We had such a great following,” Kreke said. “I remember having some fun a couple days before that when we got rained out. We got out there on the AstroTurf on one of the practice fields. We were just running and diving and doing belly slides and acting like fools.”
Kreke and Tracy collected two RBIs apiece against St. Charles. Kreke, Badin’s leadoff hitter and catcher, also homered to left-center field.
“I was just sitting on that fastball,” Kreke said. “I didn’t hit enough home runs to think it was going out, so I’m running around like a maniac trying to get around the bases. Some guy brought the ball back and gave it to me after the game. I still have it.”
Scheffel was outstanding, but that was typical of him.
“When Scheffel pitched, we tried to go through the batting order the first time without throwing anything but the fastball,” Kreke said. “That’s an amazing feat going through nine guys and throwing nothing but fastballs the first time you see them. That gives you an idea of how well his ball moved.”
Of course, Scheffel could also baffle hitters with breaking balls.
“I’ll never forget in the regional, Scheffel threw a hard slider that just fell off the table,” recalled Puma, the center fielder. “They had an umpire standing behind second base, and the guy turned around to me and said, ‘Did you see that?’ It was the ungodliest pitch you’ve ever seen in your life.”
The Rams’ final opponent was Bryan. Amazingly, the Golden Bears had won just three games during the regular season.
But their star pitcher, Steve Fireovid, had returned from a preseason foot injury and won all seven tournament games leading up to the final. And he would pitch against Badin as well.
“I always wondered what ever happened to him because clearly he pitched a lot of innings,” Hogan said of Fireovid, who played at Miami University and spent some time in the major leagues. “I don’t think there were that many rules back then.”
It was a 1-1 game going to the eighth inning, when the Rams scored three times. Puma was thrown out at the plate for the third out, but Badin had a 4-1 lead with Tracy looking to finish a complete-game performance.
“Everybody on our side was sure I was safe,” Puma said. “Pat told me after the game the home umpire said, ‘Oh, you guys aren’t going to need it anyway.’ He was admitting he blew it.”
Tracy walked two batters early in the bottom of the eighth. With one out, a routine grounder was slapped toward Crain at shortstop. It looked like a double-play ball, but it hit the lead runner, putting men on first and second with two outs.
Fireovid walked to load the bases, and a shot off Crain’s outstretched glove made it 4-3. Dave Grant then delivered a two-run single, giving the Bears a 5-4 triumph and their only state title.
Scheffel, Crain and Puma all drove in runs for the Rams. Bryan finished 11-10.
“Quite frankly, we were the better team,” said Puma, who lives in Cave Creek, Ariz., and works for the nonprofit Childhelp organization. “But fate sometimes hits you the wrong way. I’m proud of being on that team and playing the way we did.”
Hogan said his team did some unusual things “because I didn’t really have the experience.”
“Anytime there was somebody on third with less than two outs, we’d squeeze on the first pitch,” he said. “That was kind of fun because they got so good at it, they’d squeeze for a single. We also tried to never give up runs, so if there was a guy on third, we’d pull the infield in and try to throw him out at home. And we almost never used any relief pitching.”
And the loss to Bryan?
“It was tough, no question about it,” Hogan said. “But going 31-8 was something. My men’s basketball team just went 8-22 this season, so I’ll take 31-8 and losing in the championship game any day.”
About the Author