North Union’s Landon Converse watches the flight of the ball off the bat against Amanda-Clearcreek. The Wildcats beat the Aces 11-1 during a Division III tournament game.
(Photo submitted)
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The transition from the regular season to the tournament campaign began Monday evening for the North Union baseball squad.
However, a win over Kenton to close out the regular season had an impact on the No. 7 Wildcats’ 11-1 Division III sectional semifinal win at home against No. 16 Amanda-Clearcreek.
North Union recently defeated Kenton 6-2 and collected 10 hits on its way to the victory.
“We hit the ball well against Kenton and it carried on to this game,” junior pitcher Tyler Krebehenne said. “We wanted that same mentality and we need to survive and advance.”
“We want to be prepared and have the confidence,” senior catcher Landon Converse said. “We beat Kenton and it continued against Amanda-Clearcreek.”
It was a total collaboration against the Aces.
All nine players who took the field either had a hit, scored a run or drove in a teammate during a game that was shortened to five innings by the run rule.
Krebehenne, who keyed a seven-run third inning with a bases-loaded triple, went the distance on the mound.
He gave up one hit, a single in the first inning, while striking out five and walking two,
“Tyler has pitched a lot of innings for us,” North Union head coach Nick Blakeley said. “He struggled a little early, but he is a tough kid. We trust him to figure it out and the team rallied around him.”
“I struggled a bit, but I threw strikes and our defense made the plays,” Krebehenne said.
Amanda-Clearcreek (8-14) scored its only run in the first inning, but North Union (14-9) came right back with two runs in the bottom of the opening frame.
Krebehenne was hit by a pitch and Caden Potts followed with a single.
With one out, Krebehenne scored on an error on a ground ball by Mason Bright. Potts crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Ashton Haubiel.
The Wildcats sent 13 batters to the plate in the third inning. They only had two hits, but were helped by four walks and three errors by the Aces.
Bright drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Haubiel drove home another run on a ground ball that turned into an error.
Walks to Miles Marlette, Evan Beery and Drew Schmidt loaded the bases.
Krebehenne then drove the ball over the head of the right fielder for a triple that made it 7-1.
“I wanted to take a pitch to right and I got a perfect pitch to do that,” Krebehenne said.
North Union scored two more runs before the inning concluded.
The Cats upped their lead to 10-1 in the fourth inning on a single by Schmidt.
Converse ended the game in the fifth with a long blast over the left field fence.
“I was just trying to make contact, but a home run works also,” Converse said.
North Union returns to tournament play on Wednesday at 5 p.m. as it will host No. 15 Liberty Union, which defeated ninth-seeded Centerburg 14-11 on Monday.
Potts and Marlette each drove in two runs in the win over Kenton and North Union had six doubles, including two by Potts.
Bright and Schmidt shared pitching duties, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out five.