Charleston – A game with a sloppy start had a picture perfect finish.
Logan’s Konnor Lowe delivered a two-out slicing single to left field that scored Tyler Finnwick, giving the Wildcats a 5-4 win over Herbert Hoover Friday in the Class AA semifinals at Power Park in Charleston.
The finish was a thrilling one to a game that featured a combined 12 walks amongst other mistakes.
“Hats off to Hoover,” Logan head coach Kevin Gertz said. “They played great. They pitched outstanding and in my opinion outplayed us today. We swung it a little better. The things that we pride ourselves on with this team is pitching and defense. We walked nine, if I’m not mistaken, hit one and that’s 10 free base runners and we made three errors, but we still found a way to win and that’s huge.
“I talk about us starting six sophomores – they played like sophomores some today in the field. But hey, live to play another day. Tomorrow we’re playing for a AA state title and that’s all we came here for.”
Free passes had the Wildcats on track for a quick tournament exit early on.
The game started with two of the first three Hoover batters reaching on walks. Logan starter Jarron Glick struggled to find his command with wild pitches moving Will Bright around the bases and eventually allowing him to score. Livingston, who drew the second walk made the trek around the bases as well, helping the Huskies to a 2-0 lead when the smoke cleared.
They didn’t wait long to return the favor.
Jake Ramey drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the frame, advancing to scoring position on an errant pickoff attempt. Garrett Williamson took advantage, putting Logan on the board with a single that scored Ramey.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats the inning ended early when Hoover catcher Nick Grayam nailed Williamson on a stolen base attempt.
The team traded runs in the second with Logan issuing three more walks, forcing Gertz to pull the plug on Glick in favor of Chad Burnette.
“Ungodly,” Gertz said of Burnette’s relief appearance. “Very small in stature. He has a twin brother that throws just like him. And the only reason we didn’t come with him later on in the game is because his arm’s been bothering him a bit but Chad is the reason we won tonight’s game. He came in and they squeezed right off the bat. A comebacker to him and bam, he threw him out at the plate.
“And I told him when he got out there, the guy on third is going to score. I don’t care about that. Let’s don’t give up more than one and we didn’t”
Burnette cuffed the Huskies over four innings, allowing just two hits in the process.
Hoover steadied the storm on its end as well until the fifth inning.
With one out, Williamson and Finnwick scorched back-to-back singles, setting the plate for Aiden Slack.
The sophomore delivered, hitting a blooper to right that scored both runners in an aggressive move.
“I thought it was going to fall,” Gertz said. “When the ball goes up in the air you’re immediately going to holler tag. I hollered tag and the runner goes back. And then I realized, I was like ‘you moron,’ talking to myself, not Garrett. The infield’s up, you don’t tag on a flare. I looked up and Finny was about eight feet behind Garrett and I said ‘you better go because he’s going to outrun you.’ And if it was a throw online or a step quicker, I think they’d have gotten a double play out of it because they would’ve tagged Garrett and Finny which is bam-bam.”
Dawson Maynard came in to preserve the lead, retiring the side in the sixth, but finding trouble in the seventh.
Austin Hanson started the Hoover rally with a one-out single. Dylan Livingston followed with a walk, forcing Gertz to pull Maynard in favor or Finnwick. He answered the call with a flyout, but back-to-back walks brought in the tying run.
“We just wanted to wait and see what the game gives you,” Hoover head coach J.R. Oliver said. “You don’t know and the umpire did a great job.”
Finnwick limited the damage to a run, inducing a flyout to escape the bases-loaded jam.
Still the Wildcats were back on their heels.
At least momentarily.
Williamson capped his day at the plate, reaching base on a one-out single and taking second when Finnwick was intentionally walked. A force at third eliminated the lead runner, but put two on Lowe.
The sophomore answered with the biggest hit of his career, scoring Finnwick from second and sending Logan to its first title game since 2008.
“I liked it so I swung,” Lowe said when asked about the pitch he saw.
The Wildcats will play for their seventh title in program history when they play North Marion on Saturday at approximately 1 p.m.
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94