(PHOTO PROVIDED)
By: Joe Blystone
TONTOGANY (MAY 19, 2023) – A boisterous and confident young man once said, “Scared money don’t make money”.
Despite giving up 10 Otsego hits and further hindered by five Evergreen errors, Vikings junior righty Brady Kanneman was fearless as he left 12 Knight runners on base, giving up just one earned run as the Vikings knocked out third-seeded Otsego 9-5 to win a Division III sectional title at Otsego.
The Vikes advance to the district semifinals at Defiance on Thursday, May 25th when they face NWOAL rival Archbold at 5pm
“My hat has to go off to Brady Kanneman,” Viking coach Mark Cymbolin said after. “He pitched really well and without the errors we made probably should have been able to finish it.”
“He had a bulldog mentally about him today, something we have been talking about all year.”
“It’s nice to advance and get one,” Cymbolin said of winning the sectional after falling in the finals the last two years. “Getting seven runs Wednesday in the first (a 14-8 win over Fairview) and seven again today is really good.”
Kanneman got plenty of help from his mates at the stick in the first two innings as Evergreen marked all nine of their scores.
Base hits to open the game from Colton Robertson and Layne Vance and a sacrifice from Cory Kanneman put runners at second and third with one down against Otsego starter Cohen Feehan.
Then came a barrage of five straight hits, four of which came with two strikes.
Blade Walker served a single to right to plate two runs, and after Brady Kanneman singled both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch.
Hunter Vaculik lined a two run, two strike single to left to make it 4-0.
Chase Kirk smacked a single up the middle, and Connor Hewson followed with a booming double to left center for a 5-0 lead to end the day for Feehan.
Bodde Simon then walked Isaac Overfield and after he got Robertson on strikes, Vance lashed a two-run single to left for a 7-0 bulge.
“We swung it good in the first inning,” Cymbolin said of his team’s early outburst. “The swings were on the screws.”
Otsego got their only earned run off Brady Kanneman in the bottom of the inning on hits from Feehan and Jason Jeremy around a walk, but Kanneman struck out Blake Steele to escape further trouble.
Walker’s double, a walk and run scoring hits off the bats of Vaculik and Kirk pushed the Evergreen lead to 9-1, but Otsego matched the pair of runs in the bottom of the second on hits by Mason Roe and Tucker Hunsberger, then a double error to make it 9-3.
After that, Simon retired 15 of the last 16 Viking hitters as Cory Kanneman’s infield hit in the sixth was the only base runner the VIkings had the rest of the game.
Brady Kanneman got out of a two on, two down third when Overfield gunned down Steele trying to take third and kept the Knights off the board after they loaded the sacks with two down in the fourth, getting Jeremy on a called strike three.
Base hits up the middle by Dan Shanahan and Cade Lorenz in the fifth along with two Evergreen errors cut the lead to 9-4 with the bases loaded and two down.
Kanneman would get the dangerous Ty O’Brien on a foul pop to third to squelch that chance.
“What you saw out of him today was really good,” Cymbolin expressed. “We have kids listening and catching on to man up in tight spots, I mean again I tip my hat to him today he was a bulldog out there.”
“After everything that has happened earlier in the year, he came out today and just flat out threw strikes.”
Kanneman left the game after the fifth, throwing 114 pitches, striking out six with just two walks, and Hewson struck out the side in the sixth around a harmless single.
In the seventh, Hewson allowed three hits around a pair of outs, including O’Brien’s ringing double to left that chopped the Vikings margin to 9-5 but the senior reliever got Jeremy on a fly to left to end the game.
“He has thrown strikes every time we have needed him,” stated Cymbolin of Hewson. “When you are counting outs, you don’t want to give them anything easy of for free and Connor is that guy, he throws a lot of strikes.”
Hewson was credited with a two inning save, allowing one earned run and striking out four.
EVERGREEN 720 000 0 – 9 12 5
OTSEGO 120 010 1 – 5 14 0
Records: Evergreen 11-13, Otsego 16-9
WINNING PITCHER: B. Kanneman (5 innings, 10 hits, 4 runs, 1 earned, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks) Other: Hewson
LOSING PITCHER: Freehan (0.1 innings, 7 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned, 0 strikeouts, 0 walks) Other:
LEADING HITTERS: (Evergreen) Vance – 2 singles, 2 RBIs; Walker – double, single, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Vaculik – double, single, 3 RBIs; Hewson – double; Kirk – 2 singles, RBIs; (Otsego) O’Brien – double, 2 singles, RBI; Steele – 2 singles; Hunsberger – 2 singles; Lorenz – 2 singles; Roe – 2 singles
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
