Watkins Memorial baseball falls in regional semifinal

DUBLIN – Clutch hitting has been the story of Watkins Memorial's championship season.

Unfortunately, the key hit was nowhere to be found Thursday, and the Warriors' best run in nearly a decade came to an end. Watkins was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position in a 4-0 loss to Olentangy Liberty in a Division I regional semifinal at Dublin Coffman.

"All we needed was that one big hit, and we didn't get it," said senior Doug Connor, who matched teammate Garth Medors with two hits.

"We got it last time and didn't get it today. That's baseball."

It was as simple as that. Cole Music's three-run double against Hilliard Darby rallied the Warriors to the district title a week ago. This time, Liberty right-hander A.J. Kullman locked in whenever Watkins had a threat.

The 6-foot-8 Cincinnati signee never had a 1-2-3 inning in his six, but four of his seven strikeouts came with men on base. Five of his strikeouts were called third strikes.

"We were one or two hits away from making a difference in the game," Watkins coach Donald Schone said. "We knew coming into the game whether we won this one or were in the next one that we would be in a dogfight. The pitchers that we've seen in this entire tournament were good."

Liberty (27-4), the No. 2 seed in the Central District tournament, beat Watkins (26-4), the No. 3 seed. The Patriots now play top-seeded Westerville Central for the state bid.

The Patriots took advantage of limited opportunities against Vanderbilt signee Chandler Day. A walk, sacrifice bunt, wild pitch and high bouncer scored the first run in the bottom of the third, and Nick Parr's first of two two-out RBI singles added a second run in the inning.

Day only allowed six hits and struck out eight, but both of his walks scored.

"They were able to capitalize on one inning," Schone said. "The leadoff walk, 80 percent of the runners always score it seems like, and sure enough we got bit by the 80 percent today. You saw what happened when they scored that one run. That relaxed them."

Watkins' best chance to score came in the second inning when Kullman walked three of the first four hitters. Mike Ford was forced at home on a ground ball to first, and Kullman then caught the edge of the outside corner with a 3-2 pitch to strike out Cameron Johnson.

"Early on in a game like that, adding one run does make a difference," Schone said. "Fighting for one run might sound stupid, but once you break the seal, the game of baseball for whatever reason changes."

Connor doubled off the wall in center with one out in the third, but Kullman struck out the next two hitters. The Warriors had back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth, but a ground ball to third ended the inning.

The Warriors ran away with the Licking County League title, posting a 16-2 record, and were making their first regional appearance since 2007.

"I guessed the baseball Gods owed us from last year," Connor said. "There was nothing to it really. We had 15 seniors, a lot of leadership and were all confident in each other."