Late-inning drama: Chapman's walk-off hit lifts Ontario past Sandusky in OHSAA baseball

ONTARIO — It wasn't pretty and it was sure nerve-racking, but the job got done.

As Ontario baseball coach Mike Ellis put it at the end of the game, "I didn't want it to come down to that last inning."

Oh, but it did.

Some late-inning drama occurred Wednesday at Ontario, where Jake Chapman's walk-off single capped a three-run seventh-inning rally and lifted the eighth-seeded Warriors (11-13) to a 4-3 victory over 11th-seeded Sandusky in a Division II sectional semifinal.

Ontario advanced to play No. 2 Sandusky Perkins in a sectional final Friday.

Throughout most of the game, Ontario constantly put the bat on the ball and made good contact but seemingly everything was getting caught by Sandusky outfielders Aa' Zoriyan Bonner, Landon Parker and Quintavion Fisher. All three were covering a ton of ground and tracking down everything hit their way.

"We were hitting it right to them," said Ellis. "We just kept telling them, 'Keep hitting it hard. Sooner or later the ball will fall.' Their guys are athletic and fly to the ball."

"Guys were coming back into the dugout not happy," said Chapman, Ontario's catcher. "We hit shots and they're just catching it. Props to them because those guys move out there."

The Warriors had multiple baserunners in several innings but couldn't produce anything of note. For the game, Ontario had nine hits to Sandusky's one.

With the score tied 1-1 with two runners on for Sandusky (5-16) in the fifth inning, Fisher's RBI single gave the Blue Streaks a 2-1 lead. Parker then laid down a squeeze bunt that scored a runner from third base, making it 3-1.

While Sandusky's Elijah Baker didn't record a single strikeout in the game, any balls hit off him were either being caught by the outfield or ground balls that were turning into outs.

With Ontario down 3-1 heading into what was potentially its last at-bat of the season, what was going through the players' heads?

"I was going around in the dugout saying, 'We can do this,'" Chapman said. "I saw the rally starting to happen. Kept our heads up and stayed focused."

"I just didn't want to lose, man," said starting pitcher Peyton Dzugan, who had nine strikeouts and gave up three runs on just one hit in seven innings. "I love this team. I love having fun with these guys."

Gage Weaver started things off in the seventh inning by getting on base with a single.

"I was trying to get the leadoff hitter on," Ellis said, on what he wanted to see from his team to start the inning.

A single by Carter Weaver put two runners on, but aggressive baserunning by Gage got him safely to third base.

"What we did was a hit-and-run with the Weaver boys," Ellis explained.

Carter Walters then drove in a run, cutting Sandusky's lead to 3-2.

With Ontario one out away from defeat and runners on the third and second, Drew Yetter came to the plate and drilled a RBI single to left field over the third baseman to even the score 3-3.

"We had a delay steal to get Carter at second," Ellis said. "I told Drew Yetter to take a pitch and let him get down there."

Next it was Chapman's turn to step up.

"My mind was blank. I was just trying to stay on top and hit a line drive," Chapman said. "Their outfield was insane. You hit a ball in the outfield, they're catching it. I wanted to keep it low and try to get a base hit out of it."

And he did.

Chapman knocked one into centerfield to win the game for the Warriors.

"A big thing we did there was swing at the first pitch," Dzugan said. "I think he [Baker] had about 70-80 pitches at that point. Stay patient and keep aggressive."

After keeping their season alive with a late-inning home win, Ellis, Dzugan and Chapman each reflected on what has been an uneven season for the Warriors and what a postseason win means to them at this stage of the year.

"The way our season has gone, I'm proud of the kids," Ellis said. "They battled. Never gave up. The seniors didn't want to go home. So they have another opportunity. We'll see. Perkins is a very good team. We played them in the beginning of the year up there. We'll see what happens."

"It means the world to me cause it means we'll still be playing and I get to play with these guys some more," Dzugan shared. "It's big for us mentally because we need to know that we can roll like that."

"It was good because we had kind of a rough season — 50-50," Chapman said. "We probably should have won more games, but it's good to see that we can pull out a game in the last inning."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Jake Chapman hits walk-off single to lift Ontario over Sandusky