“I thought Seth did a great job pitching,” Badin coach Brion Treadway said. “He’s kind of been just a thrower the last couple outings. He can throw it as well as anybody and pitch, and it was good to see him get back to pitching tonight.”
» PREP SOFTBALL: Ross 11, Talawanda 1
Klaiber, a right-hander who will pitch for Xavier University next season, said he’s ready to lead the Rams into the Division I tournament for the first time.
“I am, and I believe I’ve got plenty of pitchers behind me that are able to put the team on our backs as well,” Klaiber said. “Whenever we’ve got any of our guys on the mound, we feel confident in our ability to defend and score runs.”
He combined with Cade Boxrucker and Sam Mathews on a two-hitter. Boxrucker got two outs and walked Matt Fink to start the seventh inning, and Mathews came on to record three outs and the save.
Badin clinched at least a share of the GCLC Central Division championship. The Rams improved to 16-5 overall and 9-2 in the league.
“That’s great,” Treadway said of the program’s 26th league title in 27 years. “Our goal is to beat the team that we’re playing, and we’ve done that a lot this year. The guys have great attitudes. They’re a great group of guys to coach, they have great energy, and it’s been a lot of fun. So we want to keep it going.”
Klaiber retired the first 13 Falcons in a contest that featured no earned runs on either side. Thomas Vogelsang’s double to right field with one out in the fifth ended Klaiber’s bid for a perfect game.
Two Fenwick errors helped Badin score three times in the second inning, and the Falcons’ Henry Nenni reached base on a BHS error and scored on Keegan Corbett’s single in the sixth. Jared Berger had an RBI double and Kaden Kimbrell lifted a sacrifice fly for the hosts.
C.J. Napier pitched five solid innings and Zach Lorei completed a four-hitter for Fenwick (17-6, 9-2 GCLC North).
“We came in knowing Fenwick was going to be bringing the energy, and we knew that we had to bring our energy,” Klaiber said. “Fenwick’s fighters. They’re competitors. They’re just like us.
“I’ve never felt better about a team that I’ve played on in my life. I have faith in our defense and our offense, and we had timely hitting and solid pitching all throughout the night.”
Napier had only thrown five innings this season before Sunday. The Falcons are playing without one of their best pitchers, Sam Secrest, who’s dealing with an elbow problem.
“We’ve got depth at the pitching spot, but we’ve very thin right now because of the number of games we’ve played,” Fenwick coach Chris Stratton said. “We’ve still been getting good, quality starts. We were very pleased with C.J. tonight. He hit his spots pretty well and kept them off balance.”
Lorei will get the start for the Falcons on Tuesday when they travel to Chaminade Julienne for a matchup that could go a long way in deciding the North champion.
“That’s the game we’ve marked on the calendar,” Stratton said. “We’ve got to show up. We can hit. We’re confident we can produce.”
He credited Klaiber for Fenwick’s lack of offense Sunday.
“I’m going to go ahead and say he’s probably the best we’ve seen all season,” Stratton said. “He’s as advertised for sure. He threw a lot of smoke, and we had some trouble adjusting to it.”
Klaiber was pulled after 75 pitches. He’s got 19 strikeouts in 14.1 innings this year.
“I was feeling great,” Klaiber said. “I was actually a little PO’ed that coach took me out because just like Keegan Corbett on their team, we’re all competitors on this team. We do not want to come out of that game.
“I had my good stuff. The fastball wasn’t there nearly as much as I wanted it to be, which is OK. I know with a sub-par fastball, for me at least, that’s still good enough to get plenty of guys out. I had my offspeed working, so when I have my offspeed working, I think I can get about anybody out.”
The Falcons didn’t have many base runners, but they were still alive in the seventh. Mathews got Vogelsang to hit into a 6-3 double play after Fink’s walk, and R.J. Clesceri grounded out to end the game.
“I thought that was a great high school baseball game,” Treadway said. “For a Sunday night at 7 o’clock regular-season game, we had a great crowd here and two good baseball teams on the field.”
The Rams earned the No. 5 seed in Sunday afternoon’s D-I Cincinnati sectional draw. They will open at home against either No. 15 Harrison or No. 29 Princeton on May 10, and if the seeds hold true, Badin would then meet No. 6 St. Xavier for a sectional title.
“I didn’t have any expectations going in, so to see your peers vote you a Top 5 team in the city, that says a lot about the effort the guys have been putting in on the field,” Treadway said. “I’ve left draws with a great gut feeling and we’ve lost our first game, so I’m just going to coach my guys up so we can get better. Hopefully by the tournament, we’re rocking and rolling.”
Fenwick is seeded fifth in the Division II Cincinnati sectional. The Falcons will host No. 20 Woodward on May 8 and could meet top-seeded Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in a sectional final.
On Monday, Badin will be at home against Purcell Marian and Fenwick will entertain Carroll for Senior Day.
Fenwick 000-001-0—1-2-2
Badin 030-000-x—3-4-1
WP — Seth Klaiber (2-0); LP — C.J. Napier (0-1); S — Sam Mathews (3). Records: F 17-6, 9-2 GCLC North; B 16-5, 9-2 GCLC Central
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