COLUMBUS, Ohio – Badin baseball coach Brion Treadway felt the energy from the Badin faithful to start the sixth inning.
That’s all that was needed to start a rally in the Division II state semifinal Thursday afternoon at Huntington Park. The Rams scored seven runs in the sixth inning, rallying from a two-run deficit to defeat Poland Seminary 8-3.
“What I thought was amazing was it started with our crowd,” Treadway said. “I felt the energy. They did everything they could to get us going there in the sixth inning. It crept into our dugout and onto our players, and we really picked it up from there.”
Badin (22-11) plays Defiance (29-2) in the state final at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Rams took an early 1-0 lead Thursday after Cody Boxrucker doubled with one out. Zach Larkin reached on a fielder’s choice to score David Begley.
Poland Seminary (28-4) scored two runs in the bottom of the second. But the Rams had a rally awaiting in the sixth to get the bats going.
Boxrucker had an RBI single to left, and Larkin had an RBI single up the middle to tie the game. Then, Ross Mulcare executed a squeeze bunt which scored AJ Ernst to give the Rams a 4-3 lead.
Mitchell Raley doubled to center to score two more runs. Boxrucker was 2-for-4 with the double, while Larkin was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Raley was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Garrett Logan was 2-for-3.
Badin pitcher Logan Heintzman pitched a complete game and improved to 8-2.
Badin is making its 12th state tournament appearance. The Rams won in 1996 and 1991.
Badin was unranked in the season’s final state coaches’ poll, while Poland Seminary was ranked No. 12.
Defiance was ranked No. 1 in the state poll. Defiance defeated No. 2 Steubenville 6-1 in the earlier semifinal Thursday.
