Huron's Hohler strong-arms Genoa

HURON — Landon Hohler has had a lot of great moments as an athlete at Huron High School. He added one more Monday, striking out 12 Genoa batters to lead the Tigers to a 6-2 win in a Division V baseball tournament opener. It was the standout senior's last game at Campbell-Klein Field and he seemed to get stronger as the innings piled up. "I was talking to my brother Jared last night and he kept harping on me to go out with everything I had," Hohler said. "You never know when it's your last game, so to be able to come out here and play in front of your hometown and have people actually show up to a baseball game is awesome." Hohler scattered five hits and gave up single runs in the second and third innings. He walked two with one out in the fourth and got behind 2-0 No. 8 hitter Vincent Pasty. Huron coach Dan Lindsey paid a visit to the mound, where he heard Hohler say he wanted to intentionally walk Pasty. "I trusted my defense," Hohler said. "It's hard to make a play when you have runners on second and third. If you have a force anywhere, I trust them to stop the ball and make a play." Hohler finished off the inning with two strikeouts, reaching 76 pitches for the day. "When he got behind 2-0, he wanted to walk him so we did," Lindsley said. "He wanted the double play opportunity. Strategically, he had me thinking a little bit, but it worked out." After the one shaky inning, Hohler settled in and struck out 10 in the last four innings, giving up only two hits. In the sixth, he totaled three strikeouts, the last two looking. "That's been my thing the past couple of years," he said. "As the game went on, I was trusting the fastball more. I knew I could attack them early and get ahead of them in the counts." Hohler finished the game with 121 pitches — four shy of the pitch count limit. "Landon's been a helluva ballplayer for us for four years," Lindsley said. "He's had to deal with a lot of adversity with his throwing arm. For him to come out and do that, I can't be more proud of him. He's such a great kid. He's a competitor and a bulldog. It was just fun to watch. "We maxed him out and he felt good about it. He did not look like he was laboring. He'll be a tired puppy tonight." The standout senior who will play football at Walsh University has been competing with a labrum tear in his right shoulder for more than a year, but said he felt as good as ever on the mound. "I've had no problems with the shoulder and it feels good to be back out here again," he said. "Some people asked if I'm starting to get everything back, but it's never left. I've had it the whole time. "I trust my doctor. He told me I could go back out." Fourth-seeded Huron (14-10-1) had one big inning at the plate, which was enough to knock out fifth-seeded Genoa (10-15). The Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the second, drawing four walks. Genoa starter Jax Mangione also hit two batters in the inning. Huron got on the board when Casey Cox delivered a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. Max Jacobs rumbled home on a wild pitch to make it 2-1 before a Braden Hall RBI single made it 3-1. Hohler walked with the bases loaded to chase Mangione and Grant Periat welcomed reliever Brock Mathews with a two-run single. The Tigers had only one hit in the last four innings, but they did enough damage early to ride Hohler's arm to a convincing win. "I thought our approach at the plate was pretty good. We didn't strike out many times (twice)," Lindsley said. "That's the best we've done all year. We have to put the bat on the ball and not strike out. When you do that, you give yourself a better chance to win." Huron leadoff hitter Austin Sas reached base four times. He singled twice and was hit by pitches twice. The tournament game, which was delayed two days by rain, started late after the umpires originally drove to Genoa. Huron moves on to play top-seeded Edison in a district semifinal at 2 p.m. Thursday in Fremont. "I don't think there's a team, if you're a competitor, we would want to play more than your rival, and probably see a guy that you've already seen twice and has beat you twice (left-handed pitcher Eli Hermes)," Lindsley said. "In life a lot of times, you don't get a second or third opportunity. We got it. We'll see how we respond. "It obviously hurts us that Landon can't go Thursday. But we've got a slew of pitchers, and up until a few weeks ago we didn't know how many pitches we could get out of Landon. We feel like we're at full arsenal." Genoa 011 000 0 — 2 5 0 Huron 060 000 x — 6 4 0 WP: Hohler. LP: Magnone. DIVISION VI Monroeville 10, Mansfield Christian 0 MONROEVILLE — The Eagles rolled to a six-inning tournament-opening win over Mansfield Christian on Monday. Hudson Bauer had two hits for the Eagles and Owen Patchen singled and drove in three runs. Jake Fries got the pitching win, striking out seven in 3 2/3 innings. The Eagles will play Crestview in a Div. VI district semifinal Wednesday in Shelby. Mansfield Christian 000 000 — 0 1 4 Monroeville 030 502 — 10 5 1 WP: Fries. LP: Morrow.