HIGH SCHOOL

Bellevue baseball advances to regional final

Rich McGowan
Reporter
Bellevue's Triston Snezek is greetat at home plate by Shane Miller in the first inning of Bellevue's 5-1 win over Holy Name in the Division 2 regional semifinal. Rich McGowan/News-Messenger

BOWLING GREEN – For one inning, the Bellevue baseball team could do no wrong Thursday. And one inning was enough.

The Redmen scored five runs on six hits in the first inning, and totaled just one more hit the rest of the game, but Bellevue's defense frustrated Parma Heights Holy Name and Bellevue took a 5-1 win in the Division II regional semifinal.

"I thought we showed up ready to play today," Bellevue coach Andy Dennings said. "It was a big thing, to be able to get on top early. Obviously, when you can put a five-spot up, it makes it hard on the other team."

Bellevue (24-4) gets little time to savor only its second regional championship appearance, the first coming in 1985 — the year of Bellevue's only baseball state championship.

The Redmen will play again Friday, against Defiance (25-5), at 5 p.m. at Bowling Green State University's Carter Park.

"I don't mind a quick turnaround." Dennings said. "We'll live with that. It's been building. Since we took over seven years ago, we've had a lot of good players and a lot of commitment from the community. A lot of work has been done behind the scenes by the kids to help build this program. We're pretty darn excited."

The Redmen wasted little time before the offense got rolling in the first inning. Dylan DeWitt, Bellevue's third batter of the day, hit an RBI single to center field, scoring lead-off hitter Bryce Ray, who reached on a walk.

Back-to-back singles by Jake Strayer and Shane Miller loaded the bases for senior Triston Snezek. Snezek hit a two-RBI double to right. Grant Vickery followed two batters later with another hit to right field, scoring another pair of runs, spotting the Redmen a 5-0 lead after the first inning.

"Seeing the first-pitch fastball, trying to drive that and if we couldn't, we hit the curveball," DeWitt said. "Hit-by-hit, we kept going."

With the comfort of a five-run cushion, Bellevue pitcher Thomas Pressler went to work. Pressler was stellar in allowing one earned run in seven innings and scattering five hits and three walks. Pressler finished with five strikeouts, four of which came as the third out of an inning. Three of those third-out Ks came with at least one runner in scoring position.

"With runners on with two outs, I just try to really dial-in, focusing on what pitch I'm throwing and where I'm locating it," Pressler said. "Hopefully you get a swing and miss or a groundout or a popup to someone."

Holy Name pitcher Andrew Boden settled nicely after a rocky first inning. He shut Bellevue down to just one hit, one walk and a hitter batter the rest of the game.

But the Redmen had already enjoyed all the offense they would need.