By Ron Haramia
Pilot Sports

PLYMOUTH - With the season on the line, a pair of freshmen and a funky sequence played prominent roles in deciding the winner of the Plymouth vs. Culver Academy Class 3A sectional semifinal game Thursday.

A three-run seventh inning, highlighted by a 100-foot sacrifice fly, helped the Pilgrims finally pull away from a pesky Eagles team to win 5-2 in a steady drizzle at Bill Nixon Field.

The win puts Plymouth in the championship game against Mishawaka Marian, an 8-1 winner over South Bend St. Joseph's, Saturday at 2 p.m.

“We are happy to move on,” said PHS head coach Tony Plothow. “It has been a couple of years since we have been in the finals.”

Things were looking good for the “visiting” Pilgrims, riding a 2-0 lead through three innings behind the solid pitching of Kreigh Hirschy. In the bottom half of the fourth though, the Academy packaged two walks and doubles by David Gerths and Kean Bartleman to knot the score at 2-all. Bartleman, batting No. 9 in the order, hit his two-bagger with the bases loaded and two outs to score both runs.

“When Kreigh struggled, he'd make a pitch to get out of it,” continued Plothow. “Bartleman hit in the No. 3 slot the last time we played them (a 10-0 Plymouth win on May 16), so we knew he could hit. Kreigh got behind in the count and Bartleman jumped right on it.”

Meanwhile, Hirschy's counterpart was stifling the Pilgrims hitters.

“I'm real proud of Gerths,” said Academy head coach Gary Hinton of the freshman right-hander. “He is tough as nails and a real competitor. You will see a lot in the future from him.”

Plymouth had seen but not hit a lot through six innings with only the two runs - both unearned - on four hits at that juncture of the game.

Hirschy gave way to Plymouth freshman Dustin White after five innings of efficient work. The senior scattered four hits, struck out one and walked five; both runs were earned.

White walked the first batter he faced in the bottom of the sixth, then mowed down the next three in order to set the stage for the game-deciding inning.

With one out, Plymouth's Joe Scott collected his second hit of the game to open the top half. Chad Clinton followed with a screamer down the third base line and a hustling Scott reached third on the play with Clinton continuing to second. Brent Corbett was hit by a pitch to load the bases bringing up clean-up hitter Marc Adams, who had singled in a run earlier in the game. It also signaled the end of Gerths' mound duty - by default, not by coach Hinton's decision. On the last pitch to Corbett, Gerths split the thumbnail on his pitching hand and was replaced by Bartleman.

“That was just a tough break,” Hinton said. “His pitch count was around 80 and he was feeling fine, but you cannot have a foreign substance (bandage) on the throwing hand so we made the substitution.”

With the infield in, Adams lifted a pop-up to second base. At normal depth, Eagles second baseman Steve Swindal catches it in his back pocket, but this time he had to go a long ways to make the catch and with no infield fly rule called, an alert Scott rambled home with what turned out to be the winning run.

“I had a long time to talk to Joe (during the pitching change) and we talked about taking a chance, testing it, if we had a chance,” said Plothow of the key sequence. “When the second baseman caught it, he slipped a little and was going away so that was all we needed.”

The ensuing throw went wide of the plate and into the Plymouth dugout allowing Clinton to score as well.

“In order for the infield fly rule to be called, it must be an ‘ordinary' play,” said Hinton. “With us playing in, it was not. The umpires did a good job.”

Michael Brown followed with a clean single to left that plated Corbett with the final run of the inning and of the game.

“It was nice to get that insurance,” added Plothow.

It was also nice to have White on the hill.

The lefty, who has made only three varsity appearances all year including the first Academy game, struck out the first two batters to start the bottom of the seventh, giving him five straight Ks. When he walked the next two though, Plothow went to the bullpen, bringing in closer Shane Kurtz, who struck out Academy DH Sean Higgins to end the game.

“We needed a few things to go our way and they didn't,” concluded Hinton. “Plymouth has a good club.”

Although the Academy season ends with a record of 15-10, this is a team to watch in the future with three sophomores and two freshmen in its starting lineup.

Gerths' final pitching stats were six hits, three strikeouts, one walk and just one earned run in 6 1-3 innings. He also hit three batters. Scott and Corbett scored twice for Plymouth.

PLYMOUTH 5, CULVER ACADEMY 2
Class 3A Plymouth Sectional
At Bill Nixon Field
Plymouth 101 000 3 - 5 7 0
Academy 000 200 0 - 2 4 3
Kreigh Hirschy, Dustin White (6, W), Shane Kurtz (7, S) and Brent Corbett; David Gerths (L), Kean Bartleman (7) and Mo Weddington.
2B: Brandon Elliott (P), Corbett (P), Gerths (CA), Bartleman (CA).
Records: Plymouth 15-11, Culver Academy 15-10 (final).