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Springfield survives close call against McDonald
Top-seeded Tigers advance
after Devils’
scary seventh
By MIKE MCLAIN
STRUTHERS
For much of the Division IV district baseball semifinal Tuesday the Springfield Tigers were brimming with confidence.
Maybe a little too much confidence.
Treating the game like a win had been ordered before the national anthem, the top-seeded Tigers were shocked when their 3-0 lead evaporated under the flood of a five-run top of the seventh inning by the fourth-seeded McDonald Blue Devils. It was a five-alarm awakening for the Tigers, who rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to advance with a 6-5 win at Bob Cene Park.
“We played the way we practiced [Monday],” said Tigers coach Terry Dobson, who credited the Devils on their rally. “We didn’t execute the way we’re capable of doing. We didn’t come out with any energy. We didn’t come out focused. Defensively, offensively, the whole game.
“We were lucky. We were really lucky. Hopefully it’s a wake-up call.”
Facing the prospect of a quick exit from the tournament trail, the Tigers started the bottom of the seventh with a bang when Jarrett Orbin tripled to left field. Nick Slike followed with a walk off Devils starting pitcher Logan Shields, which forced McDonald coach Bill Ifft to summon Zach Nolf to the mound.
Nolf, whose three-run double sparked the five-run seventh for the Devils, walked Brannon Brungard to load the bases. John Slike then lined a two-out pitch to right-center field to score Orbin and Nick Slike to tie the score at 5.
“I had two strikes on me and I literally said to myself, ‘I know a curveball is coming,’ ” John Slike said. “I was looking middle-out, just what coach always tells us and saw it off the corner of the plate and knew I had to drive it to right field.”
Dobson then had Mitchell Seymour bunt toward a drawn-in infield with Brungard at third and John Slike at second. The ball looped into the air, managing to land among Nolf, first baseman Anthony Tamburro and second baseman Andrew Cupan.
Brungard scored the game-winning run, sending the 24-3 Tigers into the district final.
It was a cruel loss for the Devils, who managed just two hits off starting pitcher Chris Thompson prior to the seventh.
“They [the Tigers] find a way to win,” Ifft said. “That was the worst bunt I’ve ever seen in my life. If we catch that ball, it’s a double play and maybe a triple play because everyone was moving.”
The Devils’ rally in the seventh started when Tamburro reached on an error leading off. A single by Brian Ortega and a bunt single by Nick Ferradino loaded the bases.
Seymour, replacing Thompson on the mound, struck out Cupan, but he hit Tanner Matig to score Tamburro. A walk to Riley Lewis scored Ortega. Seymour struck out Shields before Nolf lined a pitch to deep right-center.
“One thing I will say about our kids is they battle and they play hard,” Ifft said. “We have 12 kids sitting on that bench, and every one of them contributes. It’s a great group of kids, and I’m going to miss those seniors to death.”
The Tigers scored three unearned runs in the second after an error allowed Thompson to reach safely leading off. The big hit in the inning was a two-run single by Orbin.
It appeared the runs were all the Tigers would need, but the Devils had other thoughts.
“Basically since we’re the No. 1 seed we have a bull’s-eye on us,” Dobson said. “Teams are not going to lay down. You have to be ready to play, and until that last half inning I didn’t see any sense of urgency.”
Springfield and Warren JFK will play Thursday at 5 p.m. on Cene 1 for a regional berth. JFK beat Lisbon 8-2 in another district semifinal Tuesday.