Vermilion's late rally not enough in district loss

WILLARD — Vermilion gave itself a chance. Struggling throughout against Clear Fork starter Mason Ball, the Sailors scored in the seventh inning and had the tying runs in scoring position. Fifth-seeded Vermilion couldn't find one more big hit, falling 3-1 to the second-seeded Colts in a Division IV district semifinal at Willard on Tuesday. The Sailors finish the season with a record of 16-9. "I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of our effort," Vermilion coach Jeff Keck said. "We had a bad inning and other than that bad inning, (Mason) Cooper pitched a great game. We just couldn't get it done offensively. We gave ourselves a chance and our guys battled. That's all you can ask for." Christian Vorhees reached on an error to start the seventh inning before being replaced by Logan Peterson on a fielder's choice. Ball got a strikeout for the second out of the inning before Cohen Mooney singled. Then, Will Matheson singled into right. A wide turn around third by Peterson prompted a throw home, but Matheson kept running. He was caught in a rundown as Peterson put on the brakes, but Matheson was able to scramble and get into second safely. That allowed Peterson to score and Mooney to reach third. Clear Fork (17-8) went to Garett Hotz in relief with runners on second and third and Cooper up. A hit could've tied the score, but Hotz struck out Cooper to end the game. "Once again, it was a really, really good high school baseball game," Keck said. "We played a real good one Saturday against Bellevue and wound up winning 3-1. Today, we got beat 3-1, but we had the tying run on base. We just couldn't get it across." Cooper was efficient on the mound early. He retired the first nine Colts before running into trouble in the fourth inning. Clear Fork got a pair of hits before three straight walks from Cooper scored two runs and forced Keck to go to Oliver Roy in relief. Roy induced a fielder's choice to Brody Morrow at third, but another run scored. Roy then got a ground-ball double play to escape further damage. The Sailors struck out five times in the first two innings against Blough before Roy led off the third with a single. A fielder's choice put Morrow on base later, but he was picked off at first to end the half inning. "They make a lot of moves to first and we knew that," Keck said. "We heard that from somebody. They do a nice job of holding runners. He did a nice job. He's a complete pitcher." Codey Schwarck tallied a two-out single in the fourth inning but was thrown out trying to steal second base. Roy threw three innings of one-hit relief. He only needed 24 pitches, but 18 were for strikes. "Oliver is coming in and he's going to throw strikes," Keck said. "You know what you're going to get out of him. We're going to have to play defense behind him. Give Clear Fork credit. They're a nice team." Vermilion pulled the mild upset over Bellevue to get to the district round. That came after finishing runner-up to state-ranked Edison in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division. "We're just real proud of this group," Keck said. "We have six seniors and they've been here for four years. A lot of them are four-year letterwinners. They're all at least three-year lettermen. I'm just fortunate to have coached these guys because they're quality young men." Vermilion 000 000 1 — 1 4 0Clear Fork 000 300 X — 3 3 1 WP: Ball. LP: Cooper