DISTRICT CHAMPS … Bryce Bolger charges in from shortstop to field a grounder for the Vikings.
(PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
STEAL … Evergreen speedster Colton Robertson beats the throw to swipe second base.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
FREMONT (May 30, 2025) – “Never underestimate the heart of a champion” – Naismith Hall of Fame basketball coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
Evergreen coach Chris Owens told his team before the Vikings Division VI district championship game even stated that they will face adversity at some time during the contest.
The Vikings did, falling behind 3-0 after three innings. However, a team that had four comeback wins to win a league title earlier this season, Evergreen roared back yet one more time with a six-run fifth, all of those runs coming with two out, to spur the Vikings to the finish line and a 10-6 Division VI championship triumph.
Their opponent on Wednesday at Patrick Henry High School in the regional semifinals will be North Robinson Colonel Crawford who won over Collins Western Reserve to advance.
“It goes back to those winter workouts at 6 a.m. and a new concept for some of these guys and you see it on their faces now where they start to understand why we were doing that, and what all that work meant.”
“That work gets you through a game like tonight when everything doesn’t go your way and you have to be more mentally tough than your opponent,” Owens said after the win.
“That plays into our schedule this year. We played a lot of good teams this year and found ourselves in those positions of being behind a lot, especially in the league.”
“Our league prepared us for a game like this, you keep going and keep going, bend but not break and when opportunities start to present themselves you just have to capitalize.”
Evergreen last reached the district title game in 2012 and 2013 only to be turned away, and the Vikes chances didn’t look good early.
The first three Golden Bear players reached base as Reece Walby got on board with an infield single, then a walk and an error put a run on the board and runners on second and third with no one out.
But Viking starter Troy Manz slammed the door, getting the next three on a tap to the mound, an infield pop and a strikeout to keep the game at 1-0.
Chuy Rodriguez kept the Vikings at bay in the first three innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five.
Rodriguez was the key in a two run third that made it 3-0 when after a walk, he doubled to deep right and then scored on a ground out.
However, in the fourth, the Vikings began to solve Rodriguez on the mound to slice into the Gibsonburg lead.
After Bryce Bolger reached on an infield hit and moved to second on a throwing error, Chris Shrader’s base hit to center put Evergreen on the board.
Shrader stole second and went to third on a great read of a pitch that was in the dirt, and with two out, Manz laced a run scoring single to left to make it 3-2.
Tristan Pacek singled with one down in the bottom of the inning, but Walby’s line drive was speared by Shrader who doubled off Pacek to finish the inning.
However, the way Evergreen responded in the top of the fifth, is what they write documentaries about. JJ Johnson drew a one out walk and Colton Robertson followed with a single to put runners on first and third.
Robertson stole second but neither runner could move up on a Layne Vance bunt to leave runners at second and third with two out.
Rodriguez got ahead of Bolger, but on a 1-2 pitch the Vikings dramatic rally began. Bolger ripped that two-strike offering down the left field line for a single, plating both runners for a 4-3 lead but Evergreen was far from done.
On another pitch that found the dirt, Bolger beat the throw to third and came home when that toss got away to push the lead to 5-3.
Shrader singled and after another wild pitch, Blake Boucher shot an RBI single to right for a 6-3 margin.
Manz followed with a solid single to left and when the Bears couldn’t handle John Herdman’s hot grounder, another run came across and a sixth followed on Austin Burghardt’s two-out line drive single to right.
“Obviously we didn’t have the success we would like in the early innings,” said Owens. “We had good swings; we had better at-bats. (Rodriguez) pitched a good game to that point.”
“I believe we just outlasted him and when he put it in the zone we just capitalized. We got the barrel on the ball and good things happen when you hit the ball hard.”
Robertson added another score in the sixth on a base hit, a steal, an advancement to third on a fly ball and scoring on a wild pitch to make it 9-3.
Manz left the game after five effective innings and the Bears got three unearned runs in the sixth off Vance to close the gap to 9-6.
Two walks and an error loaded the sacks with no one out. Vance got a pop out and a strikeout but Nolan Hoover’s drive to deep center ended up a bases clearing double to bring Gibsonburg within striking distance.
Burghardt’s single and Robertson’s run producing double got Evergreen a little extra breathing room in the seventh and Robertson came to the mound to blow away the side on strikes around a base on balls to pick up the lefty’s title clinching save.
Robertson, Burghardt and Shrader all had three hits for Evergreen, while Bolger, Boucher and Manz had two apiece.
Manz picked up the win as the junior right hander gave up just five hits, two earned runs. He struck out four and walked three.
“The first time I saw Troy Manz was the Otsego basketball game (a game where the Vikings beat an undefeated Otsego team coming from 13 points behind),” Owens said, talking about the bulldog effort of Manz.
“The kid was everywhere, just a competitor, and that is what you see when he is on the mound. His body language is about as demonstrative as can be.”
“But you know he is there and if you tell him to go back out there, he goes back out there and he will give you everything he has got.”
For Herdman and catcher Sean Rafferty, this was the second district title in two different sports as both were on the Viking soccer team that won a district championship two seasons ago.
Evergreen moves to 14-10 on the year to go with their NWOAL, sectional and district titles. Gibsonburg finishes at 18-7.
EHS 000 261 1 – 10 16 3
GHS 102 003 0 – 6 8 1
Records: EHS 14-10, GHS 18-7
WINNING PITCHER: Manz (5 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts) Other: Vance, Robertson
LOSING PITCHER: Rodriguez (4.2 innings, 11 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts)
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Robertson – double, 2 singles, RBI, 2 runs; Bolger – 2 singles, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Shrader – 3 singles, RBI, 2 runs; Boucher – 2 singles, RBI; Manz – 2 singles, RBI; Burghardt – 3 singles, RBI; (Gibsonburg) Hoover – double, single, 3 RBIs; Rodriguez – double, single, RBI