GALION — On Thursday, May 16, the No. 4 seeded Galion Tigers baseball team welcomed the No. 5 seeded Lexington Minutemen to Heise Park to compete for a Tiffin District sectional championship.
The offense would come early and often for the visitors as they raced out to an early 2-0 lead after the top of the first. Galion would see just one base runner in the bottom of the inning to send the game into the second. In that second inning, Lex tallied another run to stretch their lead to three. The Tigers went in order in the second, sending the Minutemen up to the plate in what would prove to be an inning to forget for the home team.
In that third, the visitors would tally four runs to force Galion starter Cameron Payne from the hill with a runner at first base. Brody Symsick would come on in relief, picking up out number two before hitting back-to-back Lex batters. The Minutemen would go on to score another run and take an 8-0 advantage into the bottom of the third.
Ben Vore would begin the inning by striking out his fourth Galion hitter before issuing a pair of walks to Troy Manring and Ryan Utz. However, both Manring and Utz would be stranded as Vore got Spencer Keller looking and Payne swinging to strikeout the side and end a Tigers’ potential threat.
After an additional two runs were posted by the visitors in the fourth, Carter Keinath led-off the fourth for the hosts with a flyout to right field. Clay Karnes stepped in for Galion and would deliver the Tigers’ first and only hit of the day, a single. Karnes would advance to second after Jackson Staton was hit by a Vore pitch. Sam Albert proceeded to flyout to right for the second out as Karnes tagged up to move to third. Unfortunately, another potential run would be stranded as Manring went down swinging for out number three.
Staton was able to hold the Lexington offense scoreless in the top of the fifth and the Tigers stepped up to the plate hoping to manufacture some kind of offense to keep their season alive. Utz would fyout to center to lead-off the bottom of the fifth and was followed by a 3-1 groundout by Keller. Payne would strike out to end the game as Lex punched their ticket to Heidelberg College for a district semifinals contest; 10-0.
Galion’s season comes to a close at 15-9 overall.
Colonel Crawford 9, Galion 7
GALION — The Galion Tigers baseball squad met up with the visiting Colonel Crawford Eagles on Wednesday afternoon for one final tune-up before the beginning of their postseason run.
Colonel Crawford would get on the board first with a run in the top of the opening frame before Galion responded with a pair of runs across the plate in the home half to head into the second up; 2-1. In that second inning, the Eagles would add a run to tie the contest before the Tigers plated three in the bottom of the second to regain the lead at 5-2.
Staring at a three-run deficit, Crawford stepped up to the plate in the top of the third and would proceed to score four runs to take their second lead of the contest at 6-5. The lead would be short-lived however as Galion would once again respond, scoring two in the bottom of the inning to reclaim the advantage; 7-6.
Both teams would go quietly for the first time in the fourth, sending the Eagles up to bat in the fifth still down a run. Colonel Crawford’s offense would come back to life as they tallied three runs in the inning to go up; 9-7. That is how the game would conclude as the Tigers went scoreless throughout the remainder of the ballgame.
With the victory, the visitors improved to 18-7 overall on the season while the hometown Tigers dropped to 15-8.
Galion managed five hits en route to their seven runs while stranding eight runners on base. For Crawford, they scored nine runs on nine hits and left seven on the base path. The Tigers committed four errors in the field on the day and the Eagles, three.
Troy Manring was handed the loss for Galion following 3⅓ innings pitched that saw him allowing four hits and three runs while striking out a batter. Cade Hamilton picked up the win for Crawford, tossing 1⅔ innings on the mound while issuing one walk and fanning one Tigers’ batter.
Spencer Keller had Galion’s only multi-hit game with two singles. Keller also scored twice, drove in a run and stole two bases in the loss. Gavin Feichtner and Caleb Lohr both picked up multiple hits in the Eagles’ victory as Feichtner finished with three singles, a run scored, an RBI and a steal with Lohr knocking two singles, scoring a run and swiping two bags.
Other statistics for the Tigers on Wednesday were: Clay Karnes- 1⅓IP, H, R, K; Jacob Lear- ⅔IP, H, 3R(2E), 2BB; Brody Symsick- 1⅔IP, H, R, K; Ryan Utz- 2B, R; Cameron Payne- 1B, 3RBI; Jackson Staton- R, SB; Manring- 2R; Sam Albert- 1B, R, RBI, SB and Carter Keinath- SB.
Additional stats for the Eagles in the win were: Daylen Balliet- 3IP, 5H, 7ER, 3BB, R; Trevin Fairchild- 2⅓IP, BB, 1B, RBI; Hamilton- 1B, R, RBI; Drayton Burkhart- R; Carson Feichtner- R; Dylan Cooke- 1B, 2R, RBI, SB and Brock Ritzhaupt- 2B, R, 3RBI.
The No. 4 seeded Galion Tigers will play host to the No. 5 seeded Lexington Minutemen in a Division II sectional championship contest on Thursday at 5 p.m. while the No. 2 seeded Colonel Crawford Eagles host the No. 10 seeded Tiffin Calvert Senecas in their Division IV sectional championship game on Thursday at 5 p.m.
The winner of the Galion and Lexington contest will advance to the district semifinals at Heidelberg University on Thursday, May 23 and take on the winner of the matchup between the No. 1 seeded Van Wert Cougars and the No. 7 seeded Wapakoneta Redskings. The winner of the meeting between Crawford and Calvert will be at Galion on Wednesday, May 22 and will face either the No. 3 seeded Plymouth Big Red or the No. 6 seeded Lucas Cubs in district semifinals action.
In a scurry to find an opponent for their Senior Night, the Galion baseball team hosted the visiting Edison Chargers back on Tuesday, May 14. The Tigers would have no issues with their guests, marching to a 7-3 victory.
