Clinging to late lead with Final 4 berth on line, Louisville gang tackled by nasty inning

CANTON — The Chardon Hilltoppers rolled back into one of their favorite places on Earth, Canton, Ohio.

Heath Fetchik smiled as the bus rolled by Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on its way to a big baseball game against Louisville.

"Yeah, the football game crossed my mind," he said.

On the first Friday in December, playing linebacker, Fetchik made a last-minute interception that preserved Chardon's 21-14 win over Hamilton Badin in the Division III state title game.

On the first Friday in June, playing catcher in Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, he helped the Hilltoppers get to the state baseball Division II final four with a comeback win over Louisville.

The final score was 7-3, but as Fetchik noted, "It was pretty tense."

Louisville led 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Fetchik hit a ground ball to shortstop JT Popick for what could have been the second out.

"I should have charged it," Popick said. "I made the play and made a snap throw to first base."

The umpire made a "safe" call and went on to motion that first baseman Cole Miller's foot came off the bag. The Leopards didn't see it that way, but instead of none on, two outs and a 3-2 lead, Chardon used the baserunner as a springboard to a five-run inning.

"I don't know if he pulled his foot," said head coach Brian Warner. "It was the turning point."

"It changed the whole inning," said Popick.

The big hit in the subsequent flurry was a two-run, bases-loaded single by No. 3 hitter Nolan Kirsh, who also was Chardon's pitcher. When the inning ended, the Hilltoppers led 7-3.

It took a long time to break through against Louisville's Connor Morley, the junior pitcher who shut out Marlington in last week's district title game.

"We knew the hits would come," said Chardon head coach Brian Long. "We hit some balls hard earlier. We only struck out once the whole game."

That fifth inning was the game.

Warner's eighth season at the Louisville helm ended one game short of the first baseball final four in school history.

"The guys left it all out there, Warner said. "I couldn't be more proud of the group of young men. They made coming to practice every day fun.

"The older guys were great mentors for our younger guys. They competed so hard. You saw that today. It's hard, man."

Chardon's lineup is peppered with football players from a program that has won two state titles in a row.

"A lot of them are in our lineup," Long said. "Our catcher, Heath, our third baseman, Christian Hall, our second baseman, Will Francis, our first baseman Jake Barker ... all football players. Two of our sophomores, Leo Colombi and Andrew Bruce, have multiple Division I offers in football.

"Our football coordinators on offense and defense are baseball coaches. Chardon has that toughness mindset."

Louisville had the lead.

Popick led off the game with a drive over the right fielder's head for a triple.

"I saw several pitches and got deep in the count," said Popick, who scored on Connor Adelman's ground out for a 1-0 lead. "I learned a lot on each pitch. He gave me one outside and I took it for a ride."

Kirsh, named after Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, used his heater to keep his team in the game. Still, that first inning bugged him.

"I knew (Popick) was their dude," said the pitcher, Kirsh. "To start off with a triple wasn't ideal. I kind of shook it off and waited for our bats to come around."

The Leopards made Kirsh work, seeing 25 pitches in the second inning. Morley breezed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning on four pitches (two groundouts, a flyout).

Kirsh escaped damage in the third when Adelman's rocket to deep right, perhaps a wall shot in some high school stadiums, got caught with help from the deep dimensions of Munson.

In the bottom of the third, Chardon got a clutch hit from Hall with two on and one out, resulting in a 2-1 lead. A heads-up play by third baseman Caleb Miller helped the Leopards escape further trouble.

Cole Miller led off the fourth with a single, stole second, moved up when Caleb Miller placed a ground ball on the right side, and scored on Andrew Corona's groundout. Walker Kandel and Zack Seaman drew walks to bring up Popick with two outs. A flyout ended the inning.

It was 2-2 heading for the home stretch when Morley worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth.

The Leopards played odd ball to take a 3-2 lead. Charlie Roberts led off the fifth with a tweener of a pop over the shortstop's head. The left fielder got a glove on the ball, but it dropped. Roberts then broke too early on a steal attempt but won a rundown and gained second base. He wound up scoring from third on a wild pitch.

Then came that five-run bottom of the fifth, in which Morley was relieved by sophomore Zach Root.

Down 7-3, the Leopards hit the ball hard in the top of the sixth off reliever Brandon Fatur but made loud outs, the last of which was Roberts' rope to the shortstop with two men on.

When the season came to end, much of the Louisville crowd stuck around, delivering rounds and rounds of applause.

"Our guys had to be tough," said the Chardon coach, Long. "Louisville had the lead. They had more than 500 people in their section of the stadium. It was a big atmosphere."

The Leopards spent quite a while huddled in the outfield afterward. Most of the crowd was gone when everyone made a last trip to the dugout to pack up their things.

"We had the best chemistry of any team I've ever played on," Popick said. "That played a lot into our success. Today ... it just wasn't our best game."

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Chardon beats Louisville in OHSAA regional baseball championship