By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Cleveland, Ohio---Luke Whelpton (Vauxhall/Brandon, Manitoba, Canada) tossed a one-hit shutout in today's Sub-Region XII tournament winner's bracket final to help land the Owens Community College baseball team in the championship tomorrow.
Whelpton's performance was the nightcap of two games for Owens today at Cuyahoga Community College's West Campus.
Winner's Bracket Semifinal: Owens 9 Lakeland 4
Casey Gose (Genoa/Genoa, Ohio) and Jake Wichlacz (Eisenhower/Macomb, Mich.) went 4-for-5 combined with four runs and four RBI, while Charlie Sipe (Northrop/Fort Wayne, Ind.) added three RBI in today's first game.
Owens jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Lakeland rallied with four two-out runs in the seventh.
Sipe's sacrifice fly in the first inning gave Owens a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Owens added three more on an RBI single from Wichlacz and a two-run double from Gose.
In the sixth, Owens broke the game open with five runs. Jake Norbut (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) tripled with one out and scored on an RBI single from Wichlacz. Wichlacz later scored on an RBI single by Tyler Byerly (Washington Township/Crown Point, Ind.).
Byerly and Gose, who singled in the at bat before Byerly, then scored on a two-run single from Sipe to make it 8-0. Sipe stole second and scored on an RBI single from Benjamin Breymier (North Central/Indianapolis, Ind.).
In the seventh, Kyle Bennett (Grove City/Grove City, Ohio) retired the first two batters before giving up five straight hits that scored four runs. However, a 5-3 groundout ended the game and sent Owens to the winner's bracket final against Vincennes.
Bennett (3-6) picked up his second straight win with his complete game performance. He allowed 10 hits, four runs and one walk while striking out four.
Winner's Bracket Final: Owens 3 Vincennes 0
Whelpton allowed just a sixth inning single, while Owens scored three runs in the first to put Owens in tomorrow's championship.
In the first, Sipe's RBI double along with a passed ball and a balk allowed Owens to score three runs, which was more than enough for Whelpton.
The sophomore lefty allowed just two walks while striking out five. He had four 1-2-3 innings and induced Vincennes into two double plays while improving to 3-5 this year.
Marcus Rozsa (All Saints Secondary/Whitby, Ontario, Canada) and Nolan Rao (Whitmer/Toledo, Ohio) each had a team-high two hits in the game.
Notes
With the victories, Owens is in the driver's seat of the tournament. They will take on the winner of Vincennes University and Lakeland Community College at approximately 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. Should Owens win that game, they would advance to next week's Region XII tournament in Battle Creek, Mich. Should Vincennes/Lakeland win, a winner take all game would be held on Sunday.