Baseball: Hall throws out runner at plate, holds on to win regional title

ORION — With the Hall baseball team clinging to a two-run lead with two runners on and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Riverdale’s Braxton Hager hit a fly ball to right field.

Hall’s Max Bryant tried to run it down, but couldn’t get there in time.

One run scored.

Bryant picked the ball up and launched it toward home as Leyton Nelson rounded third.

The ball sailed into the infield where Hall pitcher Ashton Pecher scooped it up, turned and fired to catcher Kyler Lapp.

Lapp applied the tag, the umpire signaled out and the Red Devils rushed toward home plate, mobbing each other in celebration of the final out that preserved a 6-5 victory Saturday in the Class 2A Orion Regional championship.

“Usually coach tells us to back up home plate,” Pecher said. “I thought it was going to get cut. It wasn’t. I was in the right spot at the right time and made the right play at the right time.

“I was really excited (when the out call was made). We came up short last year so to win it this year is really big for us. Hopefully, we just keep going and winning games.”

“I was in the right spot at the right time and made the right play at the right time.”

—  Ashton Pecher, Hall senior pitcher

Hall coach Tom Keegan said the final wasn’t executed as it typically would be, but he’ll take the result.

“It feels good,” Keegan said. “I would have like to do it in a little bit more convincing fashion than what we showed in the last part of the game. Fundamentally, how poor were we on that last play. We had our pitcher in the middle of the diamond as our cutoff man. It turned into a (Derek) Jeter flip play I guess. I’ll take the win even it if was ugly and we’ll get back to practice Monday.”

The win gave Hall its first regional championship since 2019.

“It’s a really big accomplishment for this program,” Bryant said. “We have been dreaming about it all year. That was our main goal was to get to a regional championship and win it.”

The Red Devils (21-8) advance to the Knoxville Sectional where they will play Cuba/Spoon River Valley (20-5) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Cuba advanced with a 4-0 win over Farmington.

“We’re happy to be there,” Keegan said. “We’ll do our homework and go from there.”

Hall got off to a rough start Saturday as the Red Devils did not have a base runner through three innings.

After striking out all three batters in the first inning, Bryant gave up a pair of runs in the second on an RBI double by Blake Sutton.

The momentum started to shift the Red Devils’ way in the top of the fourth.

Riverdale loaded the bases with one out.

Bryant got Sutton to hit a ground ball to first baseman Dom Galetti, who fired to Lapp for an out. Lapp through it back to Galetti to complete an inning-ending double play with no runs allowed.

“That was absolutely huge to stop the bleeding there,” Keegan said.

Hall then came to bat and leadoff hitter Mac Resetich final gave the Red Devils a base runner when he drew a walk.

Resetich advanced to second on a balk and scored on an RBI single by Pecher.

Bryant tied it with a sacrifice fly and a third run scored when Peyton Dye hit a flyball to left field that was dropped.

“Our bats were rough at first, but Max did what he could (on the mound to keep us in it),” Pecher said. “We found ways to get on and found ways to score.”

The Red Devils got three crucial insurance runs in the sixth when Joel Koch launched a two-run home run to left field, and after a strikeout, Hunter Meagher delivered an RBI single.

“I don’t know if it was nerves, but the (Jake Willems) kept us off balance for sure,” Keegan said. “The first part of the game, we couldn’t put anything. in play. Then we got one to go and others started. Joel had the bomb and how big was Hunter Meagher’s insurance run?”

Bryant earned the win on the mound as he gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits with four strikeouts, a walk and a hit batter.