Braxton Baumberger, Joe Peterson, Field snag first OHSAA baseball district championship

STRUTHERS — The Blonde Bombers struck again.

The dynamic duo of Braxton Baumberger and Caleb Gartner pitched Field to its first baseball district championship.

Well, the Blonde Bombers — that's their preferred nickname, by the way, after both pitched for the Ohio Bombers when they were younger — and closer Kayden Smith, who came in and got Wednesday's final out.

Behind stellar pitching — the three allowed three runs in 14 innings of district play — and a strong start at the plate Wednesday, No. 4 Field topped No. 2 Canfield 3-2 in the Division II Struthers District championship game.

"It's unbelievably special," Falcons coach Joe Peterson said. "There's been a lot of tough playoff losses in the past years that have been really tough on our staff, been tough on me, been tough on the kids, and I know that those kids are a part of this, too, so it means a lot."

That's what Gavin Greene focused on as well.

Sure, the senior and his teammates relished their accomplishment, but they also embraced the full meaning of the moment.

"I know it means a lot to Coach P, and my main goal was to make him happy," Greene said. "I mean, yeah, I'm happy, too, but seeing that man have a smile on his face was just, like, I'd rather see that than having a red vein pop out of his neck any day of my life."

So many of Peterson's first 193 victories at Field came courtesy of the program's trademark great pitching, so it was fitting that his first district title also came thanks to a couple of pitchers' duels.

After Gartner tossed a complete game in Monday's semifinal, holding Ursuline to a single run for a 4-1 victory, Baumberger limited Canfield to two runs in 6⅔ innings, twice leaving the bases loaded.

"It's a typical Braxton performance on the mound," Peterson said. "He's as tough as they come. He's a next-pitch guy, don't take me out, I got this, and he's just an ultimate competitor and it shone bright today."

While Smith is now 5-for-5 in save opportunities this season, his fifth didn't come easily.

A pitch to the backstop sent the Cardinals' potential tying run to third.

But Smith bounced back with a slider for strike three to end it.

"We trust each other," Baumberger said. "That's what's got us here this far, so bearing down, and just trusting one another, and I knew he was going to make a play for us, and he came across with that slider and I saw the big whiff and it didn't even feel real in the moment. But after that, I saw everyone get excited and it's a great feeling."

Big-game Braxton Baumberger delivers on the mound

Who better than Baumberger?

The Falcons senior was meant for the moment.

Having played quarterback for the Falcons football team and having served as one of the basketball team's leading scorers, Wednesday's spotlight wasn't going to make Baumberger nervous.

Nothing seemed to, even when the Cardinals twice loaded the bases against the senior.

"Getting those bases loaded, you know you got to show up and do it for your teammates," Baumberger said. "I think we had a couple errors those innings and I knew, 'All right, it's on me now, can't let them score. We have these three runs. We got to ride it the whole way.'"

The plan, said Peterson, was to eventually go to Smith, but Baumberger kept pushing and pushing.

"Braxton kept gutting it out," Peterson said. "[He] kept finding ways to get out of it, kept finding ways to minimize the damage."

Finally, Peterson had no choice with Baumberger having hit the pitch limit with two outs and a runner on in the seventh. In came Smith, who bounced back from a wild pitch to record the final out.

"I went slider in the dirt and he kind of check swung, so I'm like, he's going to swing at it [if I throw it again]," Smith said. "Then, I threw it again and I got him swinging, and it was awesome."

Field gets contributions everywhere for district title

Not that the pitchers stood alone.

As usual, the Falcons' fielding delivered, including a superb job by Gartner at first base gloving a hard ground ball that took a bad hop in the seventh.

Garit Greene was typically smooth in center, and Gavin Clapp, who hadn't played much in the past few weeks, played a fine third base, including a key put-out with the potential tying run on third in the sixth.

"I want to shout out my third baseman, Gavin Clapp," Baumberger said. "He hasn't played in about three weeks and he came in, the first two batters roped two ground balls at him and he made both plays. He made plays all day for us at third, showed up for us, so Garit could stay in center and make plays out there."

At the plate, it was a similar team effort as four players delivered singles in the Falcons' three-run top of the first.

Greene, the centerfielder, got it started with a two-strike leadoff single up the middle.

"I'm thinking there's no way I'm striking out here," Greene said. "I'm putting the ball in play, and that's been our mentality coming into this game, like no strikeouts, get your foot down on two strikes and let's hit the ball and get it in play."

Baumberger followed with a hit-by-a-pitch and Gartner drove Greene in for the game's first run with a single.

Grady Eader and Logan Lonzrick added RBI singles before the top of the first was complete.

"We were rolling ever since [then]," Greene said. "Those three runs can do it for you."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Braxton Baumberger lifts Field to first OHSAA baseball district title