Lakewood baseball backs Bebout, bumps off Granville to earn home game
GRANVILLE ― A rocky start against Granville didn't deter Lakewood ace Tyler Bebout on Thursday. He still finished what he started, because his teammates had his back.
"He didn't want to come out," coach Chuck Davis said after Bebout threw 113 pitches and closed with five scoreless innings in a 7-3 Division II district second-round win. "Since the third inning, I had Mason Sprankle getting ready, but there was no way he was coming out. He was just as strong at the end, if not stronger, than he was at the beginning. He started throwing more strikes, and got weak contact outs."
The 10th-seeded Lancers (10-15), who earned a surprising home game Tuesday in the district semifinals, made sure of that by scoring four runs in the sixth, breaking a 3-3 tie. They'll host 13th seed London (10-19), which stunned third-seeded Highland 3-0. One of the heroes Thursday, junior third baseman Peyton Tichenor, was pumped up about that fact.
"The juniors had never even had a tournament win," said Tichenor, who smacked a two-out, two-run single in the first, and a two-out, two-run double in the decisive sixth for the visitors. "I think Bebout (one of the Lancers' only two seniors) is the only one to ever experience one. It's going to be huge to host."
But first, both teams had to endure a 35-minute, 14-batter first inning that ended with a 2-2 tie.
Will Marrero, Cayden MacDonald and Nate Gall had one-out singles off freshman Jakob Culver, loading the bases. MacDonald reached after Blue Aces left fielder Cash Thomas caught his deep drive, but the umpires ruled it had bounced off the fence. Culver struck out Bebout, but Tichenor blooped a two-run single to center.
Jacob Smith had a leadoff single for seventh-seeded Granville (12-13), and with one out, Ezra Kurek's towering blast to left was misplayed for a single. Smith later scored on a wild pitch and Sawyer Benschoter, one of two seniors for the Blue Aces, tied it with a single to left.
Nolan Tracy chopped a two-out infield single in the second, scoring Colby Rardon, who led off with a hit, giving the Blue Aces a 3-2 edge. But Lakewood answered to tie it in the third, as senior Hayden Ferry singled home Tichenor, who had walked and stolen second. However, both pitchers settled down, and although both teams threatened, it stayed 3-3 until the sixth.
Ninth hitter Kollin Hall led off with a single, Colton Ferry was hit by a pitch and Marrero bunted them over. MacDonald then greeted reliever Alex Gregory with a two-run single that took a hop over the third baseman's head. And with two outs, Tichenor drilled a two-run double to left center.
"We were definitely due, and we had to have Bebout's back," Tichenor said. "Tyler's done it all year. I think nerves got to him at the beginning, but then he settled in."
Once he found out he was starting Thursday, Bebout thought he was going to go the distance. He struck out four, walked two and allowed nine hits, with just two earned runs.
"It wasn't my best, but I trust my team," he said. "I threw more pitches, but I knew they were behind me. They (Granville) are a good hitting team, and it's tough to get outs. As the game went on, I figured it out. I also trusted our bats. We put a couple runs together, and once they gave me that lead, I was more comfortable."
Davis feels the Lancers are playing their best baseball, after a tough regular season in the demanding Licking County League.
"We were getting back-to-back hits, which we hadn't been doing," he said.
Tichenor, MacDonald and Hall each had two hits for Lakewood, while Benschoter went 3 for 4 in his final game for Granville. Culver threw 94 pitches in 5⅓ innings, striking our four and walking four, while yielding five earned runs and seven hits.
"Jakob deserved to win," said first-year Blue Aces' coach Justin Richards. "We had some plays that did not go the way they should have. This season, we played two seniors, five sophomores and a couple of freshmen, and we had some injuries which hurt us. But the younger kids moved up and got valuable experience.
"I think we improved. The next couple of years, look out for Granville. We're going to get in the weight room and have a big offseason. We did not have an offseason last year."
Meanwhile, the Lancers live to fight another day.
"We played a lot of tough teams this year, and that got us ready for this," Tichenor said. "Highland beat us last year in the tournament, and we were going to be ready for them, so now we'll be ready for London."
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Lakewood baseball backs Bebout, bumps off Granville to earn home game
