Comets overpower Tigers in Sectional 39 semifinal
May 25—GREENTOWN — It really does not matter how many times Jeff Closser — wrapping up his 19th season as Alexandria's baseball coach — bids farewell to a senior class. It never gets any easier.
And that certainly applies to the Class of 2024, a group of five who saw their final game end in a 3-0 defeat to Eastern on Saturday in the Sectional 39 semifinals, played at the brand new Eastern Athletic Complex.
"It's going to be a tough loss, and they'll remember it for a while," Closser said. "Hopefully, the younger guys will come back next year and learn from this and we'll be better."
While they were a victim of their own mistakes Saturday in the field, most of Alexandria's time in the batter's box was an exercise in futility against Butler commit Corbin Snyder.
The hard-throwing right hander allowed only one hit — a two-out third-inning single to Mason Fuller — and took the state strikeout lead with 15 on the day, giving him 129 for the season in 64 2/3 innings. Twice the Tigers had two runners aboard against Snyder, but both times — the third and the seventh — came after two were out.
On the Tigers' side, one of the team's seniors took the ball to the mound and pitched well enough to win, but a few ill-timed control issues and fielding errors made the difference on the scoreboard.
Aaron Matthews was the starter for Alexandria (18-11) and after striking out the leadoff batter, plunked both Perry Kochensparger and Jonathon Warren to put himself immediately in hot water. After Snyder flew out to right — allowing Kochensparger to advance to third — for the second out and courtesy runner Elijah Brassard took second base, a nearly successful Tigers' pickoff attempt turned disastrous.
With Colt Snyder at the plate, Alexandria had Brassard hung up off the bag at second, and Kochensparger broke for home. The throw to the plate arrived in time, but glanced off Adrian Smith's glove for an error to allow the first run to score. After Colt Snyder walked, Trey Beachy made it a 2-0 game with an RBI infield single to bring in Brassard.
The score remained unchanged until Eastern (22-8-1) batted in the bottom of the sixth and Beachy led off by reaching on a throwing error. He advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball for what proved to be an unneeded insurance run.
Matthews allowed three unearned runs on five hits over six innings with seven strikeouts.
"He pitched his heart out and did what he could do," Closser said.
After senior Kaed Abshire drew a two-out walk in the top of the seventh to bring the tying run to the plate, Corbin Snyder struck out Alex's leading home-run hitter, Trevor Martin, to end the game.
One by one, as is tradition under Closser, the coach shook hands with each of his players following the game, pausing to embrace each of his seniors — Matthews, Abshire, Collin Johns, Abram May and Carson Cuneo.
"It's hard. Every time those seniors are done, it's hard," Closser said. "These guys have put their heart and soul into the program and to lose like this — we've got a good freshman group coming in. We'll work at it and see if we can get it done."
Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.
