“CJ just beat us,” Treadway said. “Sometimes you lose in baseball, and there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m glad it bothers my guys because that means they care and have high expectations. I figured our offense would score more than one run. I’ve got to give credit to CJ.”
Kyle Shoup threw six strong innings and Chandler Spees completed a five-hitter for the Eagles (15-10), who lost to the Rams twice during the GCLC campaign.
“It’s an amazing experience,” said Shoup, who struck out two and walked two. “Getting this far my senior year is a wonderful feeling.”
Cole Heflin plated the lone run for Badin (18-13), sending Kade Carlyle home on a two-out single in the fourth.
“I wasn’t sure two runs would hold up, but Kyle threw a great game,” CJ coach Mike Barhorst said. “We’ve just taken off on a whole new level in the tournament.”
The first two batters of the game scored for the Eagles. Cameron Mohr hit Spees with a pitch and Alex Livingston walked, and they came home on singles by Stephen Hoendorf and Will Duffy.
“We’ve scored early in every game of the tournament,” Barhorst said. “We’re trying to get the momentum on our side and put a little pressure on the other team. That’s been our game plan.”
Mohr faced seven CJ batters and got two outs before Treadway called for Ben Briede. The junior quickly got out of a bases-loaded jam and threw 6.1 innings of shutout ball.
“I was pretty relaxed about it. You don’t want to get too caught up in the moment,” said Briede, who allowed five hits and fanned six. “My curveball was on a lot today. I didn’t think I would throw it that much.”
Treadway said he wouldn’t second-guess his decision to start Mohr.
“You’ve got to trust your seniors. It just wasn’t his day,” Treadway said. “Hit the leadoff batter, walk the second guy — that’s the kind of stuff we’ve been talking about all year. Briede came in and did exactly what we needed him to do.”
The contest’s key sequence came in the bottom of the sixth. Cody Boxrucker led off with a single for the Rams, and Reid Maus followed with a sacrifice bunt. Maus was safe at first when the throw was mishandled, and Boxrucker went to third.
Carlyle then sent a screamer right back at Shoup, who snared the ball and threw to first for a 1-3 double play. Matt Kreke flew out to end the inning.
“I saw my life flash before my eyes there,” Shoup said with a smile. “It was just a reaction. I stuck my glove up there to protect myself and luckily snagged it.”
Barhorst and Treadway could only shake their heads.
“It was a little scary,” Barhorst said. “You don’t even dream of a play like that happening and bailing you out of an inning.”
“I felt good with Kade up there,” Treadway said. “He’s been hitting the ball really well in practice, so in that situation, I trusted he’d be able to get that runner in. What can you say? He hit the ball as hard as you can hit a ball.”
Spees pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to save the win for Shoup, who delivered 81 pitches during his time on the hill.
“My fastball was working well today,” Shoup said. “The changeup wasn’t working too well, so I just stayed with the fastball, hitting all the corners.”
He wasn’t exactly upset when Barhorst gave Spees the ball in the seventh.
“I was pretty worn out,” Shoup said. “I’d like to say I could finish, but I don’t know if I could have. He just said, ‘We’re going to give them a new look,’ which is good because I would’ve gone back out there. I wouldn’t have said no.”
Said Barhorst, “I felt really good going with Chandler in that seventh inning. It looked like Kyle was getting up a little bit in the zone. Chandler throws a little harder. I wanted to give Badin a whole new look.”
Spees also provided the defensive play of the day at shortstop, robbing Boxrucker on a grounder in the hole between short and third base. With Zack Gray on second after a double, Spees made a diving stop and then a one-hop throw to first to end the third inning.
Gray is one of nine seniors on Badin’s roster — Corey Reimer, Travis Baker, Dylan Bradford, Jacob Schweinefuss, Caleb Wuest, Mohr, Maus and Kreke are the others.
“We had an OK year,” said Treadway, noting that Thursday’s game was the Rams’ only Division III loss of the season. “I’m very close to this group of seniors. They kind of came in with me as a head coach, and they busted their butt every day and gave me everything I could’ve ever asked for effort-wise and leadership-wise.”
The Eagles, eyeing their first state appearance since 1975, will return to Xenia today to face Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (27-2) for the regional title at 5 p.m.
CHCA blanked Anna 7-0 in Thursday’s second semifinal as Cameron Varga fired a two-hitter with 17 strikeouts. Carter Bensman and Josh Robinson singled for the Rockets (24-7).
Today’s starting pitchers: Blake Swanger (6-0, 1.47 ERA) for CHCA and Spees (3-1, 1.35) for CJ.
“We’re going to go at it full strength,” CHCA coach Jeff Keith said. “We’re going to start our normal starters, and we’re going to approach it small ball first. We don’t take anybody lightly. We’re going to assume it’s Game 7 (today) when we come back.”
Keith stressed that his Eagles are a very unselfish group and strong across the board.
“Everybody knows about (Varga), but it’s about more than Cam,” Keith said. “It’s about a team effort. They have the will to win, I can tell you that. They have the will to practice to get better. This team plays fearless, and that’s what we’re about.”
Ryan Smith, Chase Murray and Daniel Vezdos all had two hits against Anna. Six different players drove in runs.
Robinson pitched the first four innings for the Rockets. He allowed seven hits and four runs.
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