Wooster: With any young team, a lack of big-game experience can cause some mental lapses and a game can get away in an instant.
Friday on Art Murray Field at the College of Wooster, Walsh Jesuit committed several uncharacteristic mishaps in falling 6-0 to Jackson in a Division I Canton regional semifinal.
The game was moved to Wooster because of field conditions at Canton’s Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium.
Jackson (27-2) advanced to a regional final against Mentor, a 3-1 winner over Aurora Friday, at 4 p.m. Saturday at Munson Stadium.
The Warriors entered Friday’s game having won their last eight games and looked primed to take on the top-ranked Polar Bears. Senior ace and Evansville commit Jace Burke took the mound with just 22 walks on his resumé and an ERA of 0.58.
From the outset, however, the moment seemed too big for Walsh (20-9).
Burke walked seven batters, hit one, uncorked a wild pitch and balked in 5⅔ innings. He gave up three runs and allowed eight hits.
Not helping the Warriors’ cause was the opposing hurler, Jackson senior Kyle Nicolas.
The Ball State recruit, sporting a 0.50 ERA, never let the Warriors threaten, allowing just five hits and striking out nine.
With two perennial state powers facing off just to make it to a regional final, emotions ran high early on. Both sides, at some point, felt slighted by the home plate umpire.
In the first inning, while seeming to lack pitch control, Burke got fired up and had words for the crew chief.
Just two innings later, Jackson had two batters called out after a bizarre sequence in which the hitters took both feet out of the batter’s box without time being granted. With two strikes on each hitter, a third strike was granted for the infraction and they were called out.
Throughout each ordeal, though, Nicolas remained unfazed and dialed in.
“He’s an assassin when he gets out there,” Jackson coach Bill Gamble said. “What a gutsy performance by him. He shut the door.”
If there could be higher praise, Walsh coach Chris Kaczmar did his best to reach it, saying he has not seen a better pitcher all year.
“He has got an extremely bright future,” Kaczmar said. “That kid is a stud. He was impressive. He had control of everything tonight.”
Offensively, the top of the order for the Polar Bears did its job.
Leadoff man Cade Mottice reached base four times in five plate appearances, scoring three times. Ohio State commit Dillon Dingler followed in the order, coaxing three walks and lining a single, scoring twice. Three-hole hitter Jake Mottice added a run and a two-run triple to put the game out of reach.
“We had some great at-bats today,” Gamble said. “We extended innings, grinded through some at-bats and ran that pitch count up.”
For the Warriors, facing Nicolas and the talented Polar Bears will play a significant part in developing a young team, Kaczmar said.
“This was a big step forward for us,” he said. “We’re extremely young and we’ll have most of our guys back. We still made it out of districts and I am very pleased with the season we had.”
The only team standing between Jackson and the state tournament is Mentor, which has won 11 consecutive games.
“They are very athletic and dangerous, especially at this time of year,” Gamble said. “It’s gonna be a huge test for us.”