Staff writer
“It’s baseball,” coach Roger Schroeder said. “It’s a mean, nasty game.”
The Marion High School baseball team had more than its fair share of mean, nasty moments this past season.
The Warriors lost 10 games in 2011; they were competitive every game except for two games where they were subdued by dominant pitching performances by Little River and Ell-Saline hurlers.
“We had two games I felt like we weren’t in,” Schroeder.
The tough season ended May 18, when the Warriors lost to Hillsboro, 2-1, in the second-round regional game in Marion.
In to relieve Grif Case in the bottom of the seventh inning, Jacob Harper walked Trojan center fielder Luke Moore to load the bases and then threw a pitch that hit left fielder Derek Kelsey to score the winning runs for Hillsboro.
“It’s a tough spot for anyone to be in,” Schroeder said of Harper’s situation. “If I had the decision again, I’d do the same thing.”
As with the season, one moment did not fairly epitomize the effort of a Marion team that featured only two seniors.
Freshman Case only started two games in the regular season. One was a complete game shutout against Inman. The other was a loss May 6 in Hillsboro where Case pitched well for five innings. The Warriors were down a single run, but the Trojans scored four runs off Case in the sixth to win the game, 8-3.
The loss was the reason Schroeder was hesitant to start Case against Hoisington May 10 or in the first round of regionals May 16 against Minneapolis.
With sophomore ace Ethan Hett having pitched four innings Monday against the Lions and Austin Pedersen struggling at the end of the season with his pitching mechanics, Schroeder turned to Case to once again start against Hillsboro.
Instead of being haunted by the loss to Hillsboro two weeks prior, Case used that experience as motivation.
“I was just pumped to play them again,” Case said.
The freshman hurler submitted a performance that was far from a normal freshman effort. Case pitched six and two-thirds innings, striking out five, while only surrendering one walk. He forced eight fly balls and six ground balls during the contest.
Case adjusted from his first outing against Hillsboro to throw more curve balls. With windy conditions in Marion, Case’s best pitch proved hard to square up and he buckled a few Trojan knees with the back-door curve.
The Trojans adjusted and started swinging on more first-pitch fastballs. Jordan Faul’s hit to start the third inning was on a first pitch; Faul would go on to score in the inning. Case started to throw curveballs on first pitches but continued to throw strikes.
Case’s fourth inning was a good example of his control. He struck out Ben Gardner with a fastball after getting ahead of the Hillsboro third baseman 1-and-2. He forced Hillsboro shortstop Lucas Sinclair to pop out to right field after starting him 0-and-2. While Dylan Delk and Kale Arnold got hits swinging on first pitch strikes, Case forced designated hitter Faul to ground out after getting ahead of the Hillsboro freshman 1-and-2. All together, Case threw two balls in the entire inning.
Case surrendered his only walk in the sixth inning to Aaron Bina in four pitches. It looked as though Case was in trouble and Schroeder went to talk to the pitcher before he faced Gardner for the third time.
“He just told me to stay strong and finish it,” Case said.
Again, Case got ahead of Gardner in the count and then forced the Hillsboro slugger to ground out back to the mound. Case astutely fired the ball back to second base to start a double play. Case then got ahead of Sinclair to force a pop out to Corey Seacat.
Both Hillsboro runs were scored because of errors. Faul scored on a grounder that went past a Marion player in the third inning.
Faul again reached base in the seventh on another error by a Marion player. The run was the winning margin.
“Two unearned runs,” Schroeder said. “That’s what it comes down to.”
Case then gave up a hit to second baseman Matt Martin before Schroeder pulled him to Case’s chagrin.
“I thought I could finish it,” Case said.
The Warriors led the game for a half inning in the third. Freshman right fielder Taylor Heidebrecht led off the inning with a double into right field. He advanced to third on a Dylan Seacat ground ball to second base and then scored on a Cole Lewman fly ball to right field.
One of the problems for the Warriors was that they only had four hits in the game. Heidebrecht went 2-for-4, Harper 1-for-2, and Dylan Seacat 1-for-4.
As was the situation in his first start against Hillsboro, Case was outdueled by Trojan senior Dylan Delk who pitched a complete game, striking out eight Warriors and walking three.
“We gave away some at-bats,” Schroeder said of the strikeouts. “They’re not a great defensive team and we needed to put the ball in play.”
Despite the loss, Schroeder said the Warriors have a lot to look forward to next year. Freshman players Hiedebrecht, Case, Luke Steele, Caleb Williams, and Zach Robson and sophomores Pedersen, Hett, Harper, and Dylan Seacat earned valuable game experience.
In the areas of Marion’s two biggest graduation losses — Matt Sprowls at catcher and Corey Seacat at shortstop — young players played occasionally at those positions. Williams split time with Sprowls early in the season. Currently, his weakness behind the plate is calling the game for the Marion pitcher.
“The game is a little fast for him right now,” Schroeder said.
Dylan Seacat played often in place of his older brother at short.
“I’m proud of the way our guys played today,” Schroeder said. “They’re a classy group.
In an example of that sportsmanship, Case understood the difficulty of being a relief pitcher — being a reliever himself earlier in the year — and empathized with Harper’s situation. Case stood behind his teammate.
“It can happen to anybody,” Case said.