DAYTON – On a perfect weather night in Dayton Ethan Rupert gave the Van Wert Cougars a perfect ending to their trip south with a walk-off single and a 4-3 extra inning victory over Northwestern.
Tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs after a highlight level robbery of Owen Treece by defender Brayden Grimm in right field the Cougars own right fielder slashed a 1-0 pitch into left field that brought around teammate TJ Stoller from second base to give Van Wert the non-league victory.
Northwestern from nearby Springfield jumped on Cougars senior pitcher Owen Treece in the top of the first inning to take a 3-0 lead after a four pitch walk and three singles opened the game.
Ethan White did the biggest damage for the Warriors in the first as he sent a pitch into the outfield to bring in a pair with a single before the inning came to an end with a strikeout.
Four singles from the home squad cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the second frame with the duo of Turner Witten and Aidan Pratt bringing around Stoller and Rupert respectively.
Though he was hit hard in the first, Treece settled down for the rest of his four innings of work on the mound and began to hand out strikeouts as if they were Halloween candy by recording five of the next six outs through the third via the K against an aggressive Warriors lineup he would retire 10 times in his five innings of work.
Luke Wessell singled and stole a base quickly for the Cougars in the home half of the second and was brought around to score on a single by Jacob Place on a full count pitch from Northwestern starter Colton Dunkelberg to tie the game at 3-3.
Van Wert’s biggest chance to end the contest came in the seventh inning as Jacob Place ripped the first of his two lead-off doubles but was stranded on the bases when the inning came to an end on a fly out to centerfield from Turner Witten that ended the possible game winning rally.
Northwestern managed to work the bases loaded against reliever Luke Wessell in the sixth on a pair of walks and an intentional base on balls but themselves were held off the scoreboard on a fly out to center from Dunkelberg.
Colton Dunkelberg (0-2) took the loss for the Warriors (2-15) as he surrendered four runs on 12 hits while striking out a pair and walking one on 97 pitches in eight and two-thirds on the mound.
Luke Wessell pitched four innings and gave up just a single hit while walking and striking out two improves to 5-0 on the season for the 16-4 Cougars. Van Wert is back in action on Monday at New Haven High School at 5:00 P.M.
Northwestern (3) (ab-r-h-rbi)
Brayden Grimm 3-1-0-0, Trey Beard 4-0-0-0, Eric Impson 4-0-1-0, Brock Mansfield 2-1-0-0, Austin Boyd 3-1-1-0, Ethan White 3-0-2-2, Colton Dunkelberg 4-0-0-0, Kyler King 4-0-1-0, Josh Dooley 4-0-0-0
Van Wert (4) (ab-r-h-rbi)
Jacob Place 5-0-3-1, TJ Stoller 5-2-1-0, Owen Treece 5-0-1-0, Ethan Rupert 4-1-3-1, Turner Witten 4-0-1-1, Aiden Pratt 4-0-1-1, Ries Wise 4-0-0-0, Luke Wessell 4-1-1-0, Kaiden Bates 4-0-1-0
Box Score (r-h-e)
Northwestern 3-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 3-5-2
Van Wert 2-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-1 4-12-1
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-so)
Luke Wessell (W) 5-1-0-0-2
Colten Dunkelberg (L) 8.2-12-4-3-2
Game Broadcast: