Champions!

MHS beats Waverly 4-2 to claim sectional title

By Kevin Pierson, kpierson@mariettatimes.com
Five batters.

That’s all it took for Waverly starting pitcher Dustin Boggs’ day to be done.

The Marietta Tigers baseball team jumped on their Tiger counterparts for an early 3-0 lead as four of the first five hitters reached base, helping them take a 4-2 win in the sectional final at Legion Field Thursday night.

Getting the win over Waverly gave Marietta its first sectional title since 1998.

“I feel good for the kids,” said Marietta co-coach Larry Burke.

While Marietta jumped on the Waverly Tigers in the first inning MHS sophomore Tyler Brooker was stymieing Waverly’s bats.

Brooker pitched 6.2 innings and while he had baserunners in every inning the Tiger hurler found a way to keep the hitters off balance when it counted and recorded his seventh win of the season and maintained his tidy 1.94 ERA.

“I felt pretty good. (But) I left some of my pitches up,” Brooker said.

Brooker worked through the top of the first smoothly, allowing just a two out walk to Ryan Robertson before settling down.

The three runs his team put up against Boggs in the bottom of the inning made things even easier for the Tiger’ right-hander.

Evan Brockmeier led off the game against Boggs with a walk and moved to third on Cole Biehl’s single to right. Michael Bauman, the club’s designated hitter who also picked up the save, scored Brockmeier on a sacrifice fly.

Zane Eschbaugh followed with one of his two doubles on the night to score Biehl and Lance Weppler added an RBI single to center to gift wrap Brooker’s three-run cushion.

With the offense pounding out 11 hits and Brooker dominating on the mound the Tiger defense stepped up, not making a single error while coming up with several impressive stops.

“The defense made some plays whenever I threw some bad pitches,” Brooker praised.

Waverly put their first run on the board in the third on an RBI single by Trevor Walls.

Josh Lansing led off the inning with a rocket shot to third that was knocked down by Marietta third baseman Garrett Kerr.

Kerr’s throw to first wasn’t in time to get Lansing. Ryan Robertson followed with a single and after a fly ball out to left field Walls hit a single up the middle into center field to make it a 3-1 Marietta lead.

Marietta got the run back in the fourth in a two out rally. With two outs in the inning Brockmeier had an infield single to third base and Cole Biehl followed with another of his three base hits, again to third base.

Trying to hurry his throw and nip the speedy Biehl at first Waverly third baseman Johnny Teeters put the ball down the right field line, allowing Brockmeier, who had been running on the pitch, to score.

“We put a good game together,” Burke said.

Waverly tallied the final run of the game in the seventh with a two out RBI single to center from Harrison Martin.

The RBI single by Martin finally chased Brooker, who desperately wanted to close out the sectional title win but yielded to Bauman.

Bauman walked the first batter he faced to load the bases but got Boggs, who re-entered to hit in the seventh, into an easy 1-3 put out.

“We’re developing into a better ballclub,” Brooker said.

Marietta plays Monday at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe against the winner of the Circleville and Miami Trace game at 5 p.m.



Marietta 4, Waverly 2

Waverly 001 000 1 — 2 10 1

Marietta 300 100 x — 4 11 0

WP: Tyler Brooker (7-2) 6.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO

Save: Michael Bauman .1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO

LP: Dustin Boggs .1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO

Luke Teeters 3.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO

Ryan Robertson 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO

Waverly (17-9) hitting: Josh Lansing 2-4, run; Ryan Robertson 203, SB, run, BB; Trevor Walls 1-4, RBI; Harrison Martin 2-4, RBI; Johnny Teeters 1-2, 2 BB; Ryan Tackett 1-3; Kyle Tackett 1-2, BB

Marietta (11-13) hitting: Evan Brockmeier 2-3, BB, 2 runs; Cole Biehl 3-4, run; Michael Bauman 2-3, RBI; Zane Eschbaugh 2-2, 2 2B, run, RBI; Lance Weppler 1-3, RBI; Ryan Tucker 1-2, BB