ARCANUM – Thursday afternoon’s Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament baseball game featured excellent pitching from Arcanum’s Conner Pohl and Brookville’s Tyler Brophy with Arcanum winning 2-1.
The two hurlers dominated the game through the first five innings, allowing neither team to dent the scoreboard. Pohl allowed only two hits and struck out seven Blue Devils while Brophy surrendered just four hits and struck out five Trojans.
“Conner pitched one of his best games of the year,” Arcanum coach Randy Baker said. “He didn’t go to full counts a lot of the time, and he kept his pitch count fairly low.”
Brookville broke into the scoring column first in the sixth. Uncharacteristically, Pohl walked the first two batters of the inning. A ground out to second moved both runners up a base then Brophy taking matters into his own hands hit a sacrifice fly to score the Blue Devil run and give them a 1-0 lead. The way the game had been going it seemed more like a five-run cushion than just one run.
The Trojans did not let their spirits drop because of the situation they found themselves in. The bottom of the sixth looked even bleaker when the first two batters were retired, but they did not quit. Wade Meeks with two strikes managed to put the ball in play to shortstop and beat the ball to first on what was ruled an error. Hayden Westfall then cracked a single to right and Cole Burrell followed with a walk.
With the bases now loaded Brookville changed pitchers. Jordan Dubbs was at the plate when the Blue Devil pitcher threw a pitch to the back of the screen. Not only did Meeks score from third on the wild pitch, but Westfall raced all the way from second with what proved to be the winning run.
“Wade put the ball in play with two strikes,” Coach Baker said. “Westfall had a big hit, and Burrell drew a big walk for us.
“The pitcher turned his head when the catcher got to the ball, and I went ahead and sent the second runner. I could have looked like a real idiot, but it worked out. Brookville played really well. They can really hit.”
Arcanum with the victory advanced to 19-3 on the season. The Trojans’ next tournament game will be Wednesday at Carlisle against Versailles.
