Opportunistic Blue Jays stop Columbus Grove

ELIDA — The opportunities were there early for Columbus Grove. But the Bulldogs didn't capitalize against Delphos St. John's starting pitcher Cam Elwer in Thursday's Division IV regional semifinal in Elida. The Blue Jays had a late opportunity against pitcher Shep Halker and the Bulldogs. They didn't miss it. Delphos St. John's scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning off Halker — all unearned — and advanced to today's regional final by beating Columbus Grove, 4-0. The Blue Jays will play St. Henry at 5 p.m. with a trip to the state semis on the line. With St. John's and Columbus Grove locked in a stalemate in the seventh inning, Landon Grothaus ripped a two-out, RBI double to score pinch runner Brayden Holman all the way from first. Holman was running for Griffin Mericle, who reached on a one-out error. The Blue Jays went on to score three more runs in the inning. "We were kind of waiting on that all game," said St. John's coach Jerry Jackson. "Someone was gonna open the floodgates in that game, whether it was gonna be us or Grove. We had opportunities early — both of us — and defensively we came up, everybody made stops." The same could not be said for the Bulldogs, who were charged with five errors in the loss, two in the final inning. "They just found a way to capitalize on our mistake, and their opportunity there in the seventh," said Columbus Grove coach Brayden Sautter, "something we just weren't able to do." Despite collecting just three hits off Elwer, the Bulldogs had some chances against him in the early innings. In the first, Halker hit a one out double, then with two out, Elwer walked Taylor Schroeder and Dalton Wurth to load the bases. But Elwer escaped damage by getting Kyle Hopkins to fly to center. In the second, Landen Schroeder led off with a single then moved to second on a wild pitch. But Mericle — the St. John's catcher — threw behind him and picked him off to end the threat. Columbus Grove's best chance was in the third. Brock Hoffman led off with a walk, then Halker laced a single to right, putting runners at the corners. With Bo Birnesser batting, Halker stole second. Birnesser then lifted a fly ball to right field. St. John's Jack Gerker caught the ball with Hoffman tagging. Gerker made a strong throw to the plate, and Hoffman was called out. "We missed a lot of opportunities, especially those first three, four innings," Sautter said. "(Elwer) got better as the game went on. "We just couldn't come up with that big hit those first couple innings when we had the pressure on," he said. "Credit to Elwer, who did get better as the game went on, found a way to get out of those jams." Elwer, a freshman, pitched a complete game, striking out eight. "I don't think he's a freshman anymore. He's becoming a sophomore," Jackson said. "But we like him on the mound. We've got a good chance of winning with him on there, and he gave us a chance to win this game." While the Bulldogs had their struggles defensively, they did make a tremendous play to keep the Blue Jays off the board in the fifth. After a walk and a pair of errors set St. John's up with runners on second and third with no one out, Grothaus lined a ball to Hoffman in center. Mericle — the runner on third — tagged and raced to the plate. Hoffman's throw was cut off by first baseman Isaac Ricker, who whirled and threw home to catcher Landen Schroeder, who dropped the tag on Mericle. Mericle was called out. "Hit your cut, and good things will happen," Sautter said. "Isaac Ricker did a heck of a job cutting that and getting it to the plate fast and Landen did a really good job at the plate of catching and tagging all in one motion. All three guys did exactly what you could ask them to do on that play." Halker also did a great job, allowing six hits, and no earned runs while striking out four in 5 2/3 innings. "Shep did his thing. Shep was as good as we could have asked him to be," Sautter said. "We just weren't good enough behind him or at the plate." Delphos St. John's &emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;4 – 4 6 &emsp;&emsp;0 Columbus Grove &emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;000&emsp;&emsp;0 – 0 3 &emsp;&emsp;5 WP – Elwer. LP – Halker. TOP HITTERS: (DSJ) Grothaus 2B, 1B, R, RBI; Gerker 1B, RBI; Feathers RBI. (CG) Halker 2B, 1B, L. Schroeder 1B.