BUNT ATTEMPT … Wauseon catcher Logan Custard stretches to lay down a bunt during Wednesday’s Division IV district semifinal at Archbold.
PHOTOS BY RENEA KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
COMPLETE GAME … Bryan ace Cade Carlin bounced back from a shaky first inning to hold Wauseon scoreless the rest of the way in a complete-game win. VIEW 103 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
ARCHBOLD (May 27, 2026) – Once upon a time your momma probably said, “Don’t try to take what doesn’t belong to you.”
Three times Wauseon tried to take extra bases against Bryan in their Division IV District tournament game. Three times Bryan responded with an emphatic, “NO!” cutting down Indian runners.
Those three plays, along with a rare triple play, squelched four Wauseon scoring chances, and were the cornerstone in the Golden Bears’ 6-2 triumph that boosted Bryan into a District title game date against Van Wert this evening at Fort Jennings.
“Those are the plays in the tournament where you have to execute that big play,” Bryan coach Corey Walker said of his team’s defensive gems.
“Three times tonight, two on relays, one at home and another at third, then the one on the passed ball. We threw the baseball really well, we caught the baseball. Those were just huge momentum shifts for us.”
“Those are things we practice and we trust the kids to do and they did them really well tonight.” Five of the seven innings, Bryan starter Cade Carlin found himself facing Indians all over the base paths.
However, Wauseon only dented the scoreboard in the first inning. Brady McGuire lined the first pitch of the game up the middle for a single, stole second, went to third on a balk, and scored on a throwing error.
Jack Alstaetter was hit by a Carlin offering, stole second and third, then came home on a wild pitch to put the Indians on top 2-0.
Bryan (16-11) claimed the lead in the bottom of the first and never let it go. Carlin singled to right to start the inning off Wauseon’s Thad Reckner, and Tucker Miller reached when the Indians botched a possible double-play ball on a throwing error.
Carter Luce hammered a double off the center field wall to tie the game. Luce took third on a wild pitch and scored when Cam Bukowski bounced out.
After Wauseon’s first-inning rally? Well, eight hits and two walks later off Carlin, the Indians still were stuck on two.
In the second, Ike Conrad singled to open the frame and Carlin walked the next hitter.
Two outs later, McGuire got his second hit of the day, a base hit to left, but Jake Arnold’s throw to the plate easily beat Conrad trying to score to end the inning.
In the third, Alstaetter rifled a shot down the right field line, but when he tried to stretch a double into a three-bagger, the relay from Cole Carlin to Miller to Jacob Uran cut down another runner.
That proved huge when the next two Indians singled before Carlin worked his way out of the inning unscathed.
The biggest momentum shift may have come in the fourth when the Indians put the first two on base in the form of a Lane Schindler hit and a walk.
Lane Wallischeck’s bunt attempt was picked by Cade Carlin in the air for one out, and with both Indian runners on the move, Carlin flipped to first for a second out and the ensuing toss to second was in plenty of time to finish a triple play.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before,” Walker exclaimed of the triple-killing. It’s the idea of kids knowing situations. Cade made a heck of a play coming off the mound to catch the baseball and then kids not panicking throwing the ball around.
“He turns and throws to first, we don’t panic and hurry a throw to second. They had a situation to make a great play.”
When the Golden Bears were knocking off Indian runners, Bukowski was extending the Bryan lead.
His sacrifice fly in the second made it 4-2, then after Miller and Luce both singled with two down in the fourth, the Bryan catcher looped a single to right to plate another run for his third RBI of the game.
“Cam had two hits, but he had three huge RBI,” Walker stated. “He gets the sacrifice fly with less than two outs, then gets the big two-out hit.
“If you want to win tournament games, you have to have great situational hitting. Not only was Cam great at the plate but he was great behind it as well.”
Bukowski drove the final nail in from behind the plate when he gunned down a Wauseon runner trying to take third with one down in the sixth.
Bryan tacked on one final insurance run in the sixth on a hit batsman and a pair of Wauseon (11-11-1) fielding miscues.
Carlin picked up the win, battling through eight Indian hits. The Bryan righty struck out eight. Reckner allowed four earned runs and 10 hits while walking four and striking out six.
WHS 200 000 0 – 2 8 1
BHS 310 101 x – 6 10 2
WP- Cade Carlin (IP-7, H-8, R-2, K-8, BB-3)
LP- Thad Reckner (IP-6, R-6, H-10, K-6, BB-4)
LEADING HITTERS: (Bryan) Carter Luce – single, double, 2 RBIs; Cade Carlin – 2 singles; Tucker Miller – 2 singles; Cam Bukowski – 2 singles, 3 RBIs; (Wauseon) Jack Alstaetter – double, Brady McGuire – 3 singles; Maddox Schneider – 2 singles
