'It just feels good to win one:' How Northmor earned its D-IV district baseball crown

SUNBURY — Oh what a difference a year made for Northmor's baseball team.

Ahead by four runs with three outs to go and then up two runs with one out left, the Golden Knights saw their season go poof in last year's Division IV district championship game, losing to Berne Union.

This time Northmor made sure to finish what it started, winning just its second-ever district crown in baseball and its first since 1995, beating Fairfield Christian Academy 9-3 Wednesday night at Big Walnut.

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"We’ve been here the last two years, and we’ve come up short," Northmor senior All-Ohioan Grant Bentley said. "I think the experience really helped to be here. The first time we were here, the nerves were there, but it just feels good to win one."

Fellow senior and All-Ohioan Drew Hammond, who was the winning pitcher, agreed.

"It’s pretty special to us. There are a lot of us seniors who have played multiple sports, and we’ve made it to the district championship a couple of times (in basketball and baseball), and we just haven’t been able to bring back the gold. To finally do it my senior year is a great feeling," he said.

How did Northmor do it?

The Golden Knights (26-3) came into Wednesday's game as the top seed in the Central District and ranked No. 3 in the last Division IV state coaches poll, but they had mustered just five runs in their last four games — and if the 12-1 rout of Central Crossing gets tossed out — the offense produced just five runs since May 3.

That changed immediately against FCA (21-8).

Northmor scored three runs in the first inning and followed with four more in the second to take a 7-2 lead.

"We just went into a funk," Northmor coach Buck Workman said of their offensive output the last couple weeks. "I know they are capable of doing it. Everybody from top to bottom in the lineup has shown they can do it. They just haven’t done it together or put together one inning. Today, we were finally able to do some things."

Cole Cuffman started it with a one-out triple in the first inning and scored on a looping single by Billy Bowlin. Later when the bases were loaded, Trevor Brubaker and Nicholas Armrose were each hit by pitches for RBIs.

FCA changed pitchers in the second inning, but the offense continued to produce as Bowlin drove in two runs with a double, then a wild pitch led to another score, while Jack Bowdre brought in the other run with a groundout RBI.

From there, the Golden Knights handled their business and closed out their opponent, contrary to a year earlier when Berne Union rallied to the 10-9 win.

"Coming up short last year really put a fire under us," Hammond said as nine runs were more than enough to win this time. "Coming in this year, we knew we had a job to do. We’ve been struggling in hitting the last couple of games, but at the beginning of this game, we knew we had to put the bat on the ball. It’s a great feeling knowing that we could come back and win it after last year."

Hammond pitched 5-⅔ innings, scattering five hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts. Brubaker pitched the rest of the way, striking out three with no walks and two hits. At the plate for the game, Bentley was 3-for-4 and Brubaker 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Bowlin doubled and singled for two runs and three RBIs, while Cuffman scored twice to go with his triple and Garrett Harvey tripled as well.

"We have a lot of basketball players here, and we were talking that we’ve been to like five district title (games in both sports). It definitely helps. We hadn’t won one yet, but this was the first, so it definitely paid off with the hard work," Bentley said.

What happened with FCA

Fairfield Christian's A.J. Holbrook led the team with a triple, double and single among their seven hits. Brayden Stem singled twice, and Jimmy Schmitz doubled. The pitching tandem of Caleb White and Schmitz surrendered 11 hits and nine earned runs while walking five and striking out five.

"We just weren’t efficient enough," FCA coach Josh Baker said. "We didn’t throw enough first-pitch strikes. We didn’t work ahead enough, and that was the story from the first inning to the seventh."

And unlike his team, Northmor produced timely hits, but that's not where Baker's mind was afterward.

"These seniors leave here champions. When I got to the school seven years ago, we had five wins. These boys leave here with over 70 wins. They’ve been to the district tournament four times. They’ve been in the district championship twice. They’ve won one of them. There are people who never sniff anything close to qualifying for a district tournament.

"We’re doing it as a team that’s going to reclass as D-VII next year, so we’re doing it against schools much larger than us. These seniors have established a culture that requires you to work. We talked about having some pride in what this program has become behind your guidance."

Up next for Northmor

With the victory, the Golden Knights will advance to the regional semifinals set for Thursday at 5 p.m. at Cincinnati Princeton. They will face Russia (pronounced Roo-she), which is ranked No. 4 in the state with a 25-4 record. Russia dominated Felicity-Franklin 20-1 in its district final game.

The winner will return to Princeton Friday at 5 p.m. where it will play either Troy Christian or Bradford for a regional championship. Those two teams play in the first semifinal game on Thursday at 2 p.m.

"It’s going to be awesome. It’s all about taking in the experience," Bentley said. "Obviously, we want to win, but there are a lot of cool memories that I want to take in. I know we have a tough game on Thursday against Russia, but it’s all about the experience."

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Northmor baseball regional-bound after handling Fairfield Christian