Crestview baseball team upsets second-seeded Columbiana

May 11, 2017 at 12:09a.m.

Crestview needs 8 innings to upset Columbiana

COLUMBIANA

With the Inter-Tri County League disintegrating over the next 10 days, no one knows when the Columbiana and Crestview baseball teams will play again. Most likely, it won’t be a regular-season contest any time soon.

That scenario made Wednesday’s tournament thriller between the backyard rivals something to savor as the Rebels ousted the second-seeded Clippers, 5-3, in eight innings.

Caleb Hill’s RBI double in the top of the eighth inning lifted the Rebels (12-10) to next week’s Division III district semifinal at Cene Park in Struthers.

“Low-scoring game, back-and-forth — you can’t ask for anything more,” Hill said.

After Tyler Fitzsimmons led off the eighth inning with a walk, the Clippers replaced starter Jake Clark (108 pitches) with Chase Franken. Hill clubbed the fourth pitch into deep center field, sending Fitzsimmons home with the go-ahead run.

“Franken is good,” Hill said. “We knew he was going to throw some flat fastballs. Down 0-2, I had to protect. I knew it was a pretty good hit.”

After Devin Turvey was intentionally walked, Tyler Hurd singled to score Hill with an insurance run.

The Clippers did not go quietly. After Franken walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth, Mitch Davidson reached on a fielder’s choice and Keenan Green singled to bring the potential winning run to the plate.

Reliever Jacob Crawford, who took over in the seventh inning, ended the threat by retiring Jake Clark and Zach Fahs with line drive outs to left fielder Jeff Feo.

“We played a good baseball game and so did they,” Columbiana head coach Ryan Clark said. “That was maybe the hardest we hit the ball all season. They made good plays.

“There were some balls that we really smoked and their outfielders covered a ton of ground,” Clark said. “I was really happy with the at-bats we had.”

Hurd, who pitched into the fifth inning and hit a two-run double in the six inning to put the Rebels ahead 3-2, said the Rebels were motivated by the long-time rivalry that’s about to become dormant.

“We had to beat them,” Hurd said. “That was our No. 1 goal, to beat our rivals. It feels really good.”

Hill agreed. “Emotions run high against Columbiana,” the shortstop said. “You’ve got chips on your shoulders — everything.”

The Clippers stranded 11 baserunners.

After four scoreless innings, the Clippers took a 2-0 lead after Hurd hit Davidson with a pitch and Green singled. With two outs, Tim Davin singled to score them.

The Rebels stormed back in their next at-bat. After Crawford was struck by a pitch and Fitzsimmons singled, Hill singled to score pinch-runner James Fitzgerald. With two outs, Hurd doubled to left-center field for a 3-2 lead.

“We really needed it, it pumped everybody up,” Hurd said.

Crestview head coach Dan Hill was pleased his players didn’t wilt when they fell behind.

“We kept giving ourselves a chance and an opportunity offensively,” Hill said. “Jake Clark is just phenomenal, he had us off-balance for four innings.”

The Rebels won a sectional title against the Clippers for the second straight season. Crestview will meet South Range in a district semifinal.