By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
It was near-perfection times two – for what almost certainly was the first time in Section V championship game history – but there could be just one winner.
Tyler Vogel of Wellsville and Jaden Sherwood of Notre Dame Batavia each pitched no-hitters but the Lions emerged victorious.
Wellsville’s Aiden Cowburn scored an unearned run in the fourth inning and Vogel made sure it was all the run support he needed as the Lions edged Notre Dame 1-0 in the Class B title game on Saturday morning at Innovative Field. Wellsville (21-1) will play in the Far West Regional at 10 a.m. Saturday at Grand Island High School.
“This was two 20-and-1 teams that battled,” Wellsville coach Tom Delahunt said after the Lions won the 15 sectional crown in program history. “Their pitcher was dealing, our pitcher was dealing.”
In the end, Vogel dealt the royal flush. He faced 24 batters – three over the minimum – while striking out nine and walking one, leaving a big 0 in the run column and a big 0 in the hit column on the left field scoreboard.
Sherwood reached on an error in the top of the first, Chase Cummings walked to lead off the second and then after that, just one Notre Dame batter reached base, Jay Antinore in the sixth after he struck out but the third strike was not fielded cleanly.
“The first couple innings, I let a couple of runners on and then I started to feel it,” Vogel said. “The next thing you know, it’s the seventh inning.”
Just two balls put in play by the Irish left the infield – flyouts to right and center, as Vogel made the run scored in the bottom of the fourth seem like six runs.
He, of course, was aware Notre Dame (20-2) didn’t have a hit as the game went along and the outs piled up. But he was concerned much more about protecting the 1-0 lead.
Class B: Aiden Cowburn settles under the final out. Tyler Vogel hurls a no-hitter and Wellsville takes the Class B title with a 1-0 victory over Notre Dame-Batavia pic.twitter.com/KUA0wR2x2Y
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 25, 2024
Class B: Alex Green makes the play for the second out of the seventh. pic.twitter.com/kIQZVXcXgb
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 25, 2024
“After I grounded out to end the sixth, I was like, ‘Well, this is it, I need three outs,’ ” he said.
But not three outs for the no-hitter. Three outs for the championship.
“I looked at the scoreboard and saw no hits, so it was in the back of my head,” Vogel said. “But we needed three outs for the win.”
Sherwood was just as dominant for Notre Dame, which won the Section V Class C championship a year ago. He retired the first nine batters of the game, including six by strikeout. That’s why when Cowburn came up to start the fourth, he was intent on making something happen.
“I was just thinking, ‘Get on base,’ ” Cowburn said. “It doesn’t need to be a hit, it can be a walk, a hit by pitch, whatever.’ ”
Or even an error, which it turns out is how Cowburn reached when his sharply hit chopper to first wasn’t fielded. The junior infielder then stole second, smartly moved to third on Vogel’s grounder back to the mound and then scored on a super safety squeeze bunt by clean-up hitter Cooper Brockway.
Sherwood fielded the bunt and checked to make sure Cowburn wasn’t running, then threw to first for the out. But Cowburn had merely delayed. As Sherwood’s throw was heading to first, the speedy Cowburn flew home and scored easily.
“That bunt was perfect,” Cowburn said. “They’ve got to make the play and then I’m hightailing it home.”
The oddity of the situation: Wellsville has averaged nearly 12 runs a game. They haven’t needed to play small-ball, which means they certainly haven’t asked their cleanup batter, a .519 hitter, to bunt.
“We have the highest team batting average in Wellsville baseball history so we haven’t had to revert to that,” Wellsville coach Tom Delahunt said. “But we practice those situations because you never know.
“What a bunt by Cooper Brockway. And having Aiden on third didn’t hurt. He’s a smart kid and an even better base-runner.”
Sherwood couldn’t have pitched any better. He faced only two batters over the minimum, striking out nine. He didn’t issue a walk.
But that one run in the fourth was enough for Wellsville. After Vogel issued the lead-off walk in the second, he retired 18 of the next 19 batters. In reality, he retired all 19, with Jay Antinore striking out in the sixth but reaching when the third strike skipped away from catcher Alex Green.
“The job Tyler Vogel did today was unbelievable,” Delahunt said.
Especially considering that entering Saturday he had only thrown 25 innings all season. An arm injury derailed his 2023 season so the Lions were careful in how they managed his work.
As Delahunt said, Wellsville had great pitching depth, so it was easy to share the workload. But on championship Saturday, Vogel was definitely getting the ball.
“He’s our ace,” Delahunt said.
Cowburn also suffered an injury last season, hurting his elbow, which kept him out of sectionals. Winning the title on Saturday made up for lost time.
“Baseball’s been my life since I was young,” Cowburn said. “Growing up with these boys, we’ve known that the older we get, the better and better we will be. To win this means everything.”
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