Errors cost Warriors shot at state title
News editor
An error with two outs in the seventh inning gave the Marion Warriors one extra chance to advance in the state baseball tournament on Thursday, but the Warriors weren’t able to capitalize on the mistake the way the Silver Lake Eagles had earlier in the game.
With Zach Robson on first base and two outs, Taylor Heidebrecht popped the ball up to third base. The third baseman dropped the ball, though, and Heidebrecht was safe at first. Running full-speed the entire way, Robson was able to reach third base on the error.
Heidebrecht was the potential tying run, and Dylan Seacat came up to bat as the potential game-winning run. Seacat worked Silver Lake pitcher Tyler Brown to a full count, but he missed a breaking ball on the bottom outside corner of the strike zone to end the game, 4-2.
A pair of errors earlier in the game gave the Eagles a pair of unearned runs, one in the two-run fourth inning and another in the two-run fifth inning.
“They took care of the ball, for the most part, and we didn’t,” Marion head coach Roger Schroeder said.
Schroeder said some of the players had jitters because of the setting.
It was the first trip to the state tournament for this group of players, held at a college stadium in front of the largest crowd of the season.
The Warriors held Silver Lake scoreless for the first three innings, despite scattered hits by the Eagles. After giving up a pair of runs in the fourth inning, the Warriors came back to tie the game in the fifth inning.
Austin Pedersen hit a single to centerfield, and Robson moved him to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Heidebrecht hit a bloop single to centerfield on a change-up, and Seacat drove Pedersen in with a single past the shortstop.
A flyout to right field by Grif Case advanced Heidebrecht to third base, and Heidebrecht scored on a wild pitch. Seacat almost caught Brown napping but was thrown out trying to steal third base.
Although neither team had a perfect inning until the sixth inning, it was a well-pitched game by Case and Brown.
“The way both kids were pitching, I think two runs would have won the game (if there hadn’t been errors),” Schroeder said.
Marion catcher Caleb Williams played a good game on defense, throwing out a baserunner at second, making a play at the plate, and catching a tough foul pop-up. Schroeder said Williams also called a good game for Case.
Schroeder called on sophomore Jacob Baldwin as a pinch hitter to lead off the seventh inning, and Baldwin rewarded the move by running out an infield single. Schroeder said Baldwin should be an offensive weapon for the team next season.
It was the last game in a Marion uniform for Jacob Harper, Austin Pedersen, Ethan Hett, and Wiley Lundy, but Schroeder believes the team will have another good season in 2014.
Seacat had two hits and one RBI. Heidebrecht and Pedersen each had two hits and one run scored. Baldwin and Zac Lewman each had one hit.