Lancers claim district crown

COLDWATER – Lincolnview is headed back to the regional round of play as the Lancers won their second straight Coldwater district title on Saturday afternoon 6-3 over Lima Central Catholic.

Northwest Conference Player of the Year Landon Price earned a leadoff walk in the bottom of his teams first chance with the bats and quickly worked his way around the bases before being driven in by teammate Carson Fox to take a 1-0 lead.

Though he allowed a pair of walks and a hit over the first two innings on the mound, Price kept the T-Birds from tying the contest by striking out four LCC hitters in his opening trip through the lineup.

Lima Central Catholic solved the rubix cube that is the future Buckeye hurler in the third thanks to a pair of runs from a walk to Matthew Quatman, an RBI double by Connor Gephart, and an error to take a 2-1 advantage before Price regained his form to strike out two more hitters to end the inning.

Surrounded by a capacity crowd at Coldwater’s Veterans Field the Lancers punched back with singles from Brandon Renner, Cole Binkley, and Dane Ebel in the bottom of the third frame to jump ahead 4-2 on a Caden Hanf RBI ground out.

Four LCC hitters reached the bases from the fourth through the sixth but were retired by Price’s defense and highlighted by a caught stealing of T-Bird speedster Quintel Peoples on a perfect throw to second base by catcher Carson Fox. Despite allowing a leadoff single to Braden Tarr in the sixth, Price slammed the door on a potential LCC rally by striking out the side on 15 pitches.

Lincolnview pushed across a pair of runs in their own fourth and fifth inning against starter Billy Bourk and reliever Connor Gephart with singles by Austin Bockrath, Carson Fox, and Caden Hanf and a pair of doubles from Brandon Renner and Dane Ebel to lift the lead to 6-2 for the NWC champions.

Price’s 12th strikeout of the game and a ground out opened the top of the final inning but began as the beginning of the end as the southpaw would surrender a single and a walk before being lifted at his pitch limit for Keegan Farris with two outs.

LCC pitcher turned catcher Billy Bourk brought home Matthew Quatman to trim the deficit to 6-3 moments before Farris struck out Braden Tarr to end the game and secure the trip to regionals for the Lancers.

“I’m very proud of the kids. Brandon Renner had a big day and Carson Fox stays hot. This was a total team win and we are excited to be heading back to the regionals and get to play another week of baseball” stated a jubilant Eric Fishpaw.

Carson Fox finished the game 2/2 with a pair of singles and an RBI to go alongside his hit by pitch in the third while Renner finished 2/2 with a double and an RBI alongside his eighth walk in the last six contests.

Lima Central Catholic’s season ends at 16-8 with Billy Bourk (4-4) taking the loss after giving up five runs on six hits in three and a third innings of work.

Landon Price (8-0) tossed six and two thirds of four hit ball giving up a trio of runs to go with 12 strikeouts for the Lancers (21-6).

Next up for Lincolnview is a regional semifinals matchup in Hamler on Thursday at 5:00pm with a Leipsic squad they defeated 4-0 on April 11th behind a season high 17 strikeouts from Price.