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South Range punches ticket to state

MASSILLON–In a year of tournament firsts for the South Range baseball team, another milestone is on the horizon for the Raiders as a trip to Columbus for a chance to play for the Div. III state title is on deck.

South Range knocked off Grand Valley 4-2 on Friday at Massillon Washington’s Ducky Schroeder Field to claim its first regional championship.

“Winning districts was fun enough but now winning regionals which nobody expected us to do is just an amazing feeling,” South Range pitcher Sam Brooks said.

South Range (16-15) continues its postseason run against Madeira in the state semifinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Huntington Park in Columbus.

“This is a surreal feeling,” South Range’s Brandon Youngs said. “To not even win a district championship before and now to win a regional championship after. I really can’t even believe this is happening.”

Brooks pitched six solid innings for the Raiders on the big stage and had six strikeouts.

“I wanted to follow in Jake’s (Gehring) footsteps,” Brooks said. “I was trying to live up to Jake’s expectations like he lived up to mine last night. I knew he was going to succeed and he knew I was.”

South Range senior Brandon Youngs took the mound for Brooks after a lead off walk in the top of the seventh and turned a double play to wipe the baserunner.

Youngs walked the next batter and Grand Valley’s Logan Newell hit a triple to cut into the Raiders lead at 4-2.

“I got a little nervous after that but getting the next batter out was such a relief,” Youngs said.

Youngs struck out the next batter securing victory for the Raiders.

“I knew I had to finish the game strong and to get that strikeout meant a lot,” Youngs said.

“Brandon’s been our closer all year and I had all my trust in him,” South Range coach Jim Hanek said.

South Range plated two runs in the first inning to play from ahead.

Ben Rivera’s bat stayed hot as he had an RBI double that scored Jared Bajerski. Jake Gehring’s sac fly scored Brycen James.

“We wanted to get on top early and play from ahead,” Hanek said. “Benny had a huge hit that drove in our first run.”

In the third inning Gehring singled in James and a Mike Cunningham sac fly scored Rivera to put the Raiders up 4-0 after three innings.

The Raiders knocked out Grand Valley’s starting pitcher Gordon Seger after just 2 1/3 innings of work.

“In any tournament game that’s huge to get ahead like that,” Hanek said.

Grand Valley’s only other run came in the top of the fourth inning after a Michael McGovern RBI single scored Gary Gearhart.

“Sam battled today,” Hanek said. “For him to maintain his composure during big situations was huge for us.”

In the top of the sixth inning Brooks worked with the bases loaded and only one out but struck out the next two batters.

“I always try to take deep breathes before every pitch and knowing my team is behind me settles me,” Brooks said.

Rivera and James each had two hits for the Raiders.

The Raider baseball team is on cloud nine as they prepare for another new stage on Thursday in Columbus.

“We take a couple days of rest and than a week of practice to try to win a state championship,” Youngs said.

“It’s going to be a little different this week,” Hanek said. “We usually aren’t playing baseball this late but we’ll get in a week of practice before a bus ride to Columbus.”

Game notes

¯South Range previously beat Grand Valley 5-0 on April 21st.

“I think we knew each other a little bit,” Hanek said. “We had a small sample size and each team kind of knew what each other were going to do.”

¯South Range’s three seniors of Youngs, James and Cunningham have been attributed as leaders to the team this season.

“They are a small group but a mighty group,” Hanek said. “This would not be possible without their leadership this season.”

“We know that there was only three of us and we had to make a difference this year,” Youngs said. “We always make sure everybody is ready every game.”

“We’ve grown really close over the past couple of months and I think our chemistry shows on the field,” James said.

¯South Range’s tougher schedule has showed as they take on Div. III teams this tournament.

“Not playing in the ITCL and playing harder teams really helped us get better this year,” Brooks said. “We were ready for tournament time this year.”

“We played a really tough schedule,” Youngs said. “Only being .500 coming into this game was deceptive to Div. III teams when we were playing against Division I and two teams all season.”

¯Ben Rivera and Brycen James have each had four hits over the past two games.

“I’m just trying to help my team out,” James said. “If it’s getting a couple of hits thats what I want to do.”

¯ “This is huge for the kids and this program,” Hanek said. “We never had any numbers on our baseball banner and now we have regional and district numbers up there. It’s something these kids can come back and remember they were apart of something special.”

¯Out of the Xenia Region Madeira (21-6) beat Blanchester 4-0.

GV: 0-0-0-1-0-0-1–2-5-0

SR: 2-0-2-0-0-0-X–4-5-3

SR–Sam Brooks, wp (6IP, 6K, 2BB, 1ER), Brandon Youngs (1IP, 1K, 1BB) and Jared Barjeski

GV–Gordon Seger, lp (2 1/3IP, 4ER), Derek Jackson (3 2/3IP, 3K, 4BB) and Edwin Hostetler

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