Dixie Heights ends NewCath's three-peat hopes

G. Michael Graham Photo. Newport Central Catholic pitcher Josh Cain delivers to the plate in Monday's 9th Region quarterfinal contest at University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium. Cain threw six solid innings striking out four. But the two-time defending region champions fell to Dixie Heights, 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

FLORENCE – It marked a tough way to end the season Monday.

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds baseball team (20-14) dropped a 2-1 decision to the Dixie Heights Colonels (26-12) with one out in the bottom of the seventh of the 9th Region quarterfinals. That sank the hopes of a three-peat for NewCath, which also won the region in 2008. The game took place at University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Instead, the Colonels advanced to the region semifinals Wednesday. Dixie Heights lost to Highlands in the region semifinals last year.

“We lost so many players off last year’s squad,” said Chris Maxwell, Dixie Heights Head Coach. “Somebody picked us to win our district this year. We got off to a rocky start at the beginning of the season. Twenty-six wins out of this group, that’s awesome.”

Matt Wehrle led off the inning for the Colonels with a single up the middle then took second on a wild pitch before Casey Cox moved him to third on a ground out forcing NewCath to bring the infielders and outfielders in. On a 2-0 count, Ethan Harrison singled to left to bring in Wehrle to win the game for the Colonels.

“Give their (Dixie Heights) credit,” said Jeff Schulkens, NewCath Head Coach. “Connor (Bartels) got a little frustrated with some pitchers that he thought were strikes, but were called balls. He threw a fastball there and (Harrison) punished it. We anticipated the squeeze at some point. But at 2-0, you have to give a kid a chance to hit.”

Garrett Combs pitched a complete game for Dixie Heights. He stuck out seven Thoroughbreds while allowing three hits and four walks.

“I am going to be honest. We’ve never seen (Combs) pitch,” Schulkens said. “He kept us off-balance. He pitched low and away. We took some strikes where our batters thought they were outside. But if they’re called strikes, you have to make the adjustment.”

Josh Cain pitched six innings for the Thoroughbreds before Bartels pitched the seventh. Cain struck out four and allowed two hits and two walks. Bartels also allowed two hits.

The issue with the four hits is they came in the same innings. The first pair let the Colonels tie the game in the fourth. Henry Kerns doubled and Seth Caple singled him in to tie the game at 1-1. Cain and the Thoroughbred defense did retire the next three batters to minimize the damage in that frame.

The Thoroughbreds did pitch out of a tough situation in the bottom of the sixth. Adam Daria walked before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error.

But Cain struck out Kerns before intentionally walking Caple. Evan Hicks ran for Caple both times he reached base. Cain then struck out Eric Elkus before coaxing Nick King into grounding out to Colin DuPont at second.

NewCath scored its lone run in the third. Zach Pangallo walked with one out and one out later, Cain doubled to the right center gap to score him. Pangallo finished 2-for-3 and walked the other time to lead the Thoroughbreds at the plate.

Despite not hitting the ball well, the Thoroughbreds did have other chances to score. Zach Pangallo singled to lead off the first and moved to second after Combs hit Dom Pangallo with a pitch. But Combs retired the next three NewCath players to end the threat.

“(Combs) got himself into jams with those three walks,” Maxwell said. “As the (Cincinnati) Reds says, walks haunt you on the stadium scoreboard, but he pitched out of them. (Combs) went about 17 scoreless innings two to three walks ago. He also gave up one run against Corbin last week so he’s been solid for us.”

The Thoroughbreds also left runners in scoring position in the third, fifth and seventh innings. Zach Pangallo singled to start the fifth, took second on a sacrifice but then stole third with two outs before Combs coaxed Pete Collopy into popping out.

In the seventh, Nick Seibert walked before Michael Bueter sacrifice bunted him to second. After Zach Pangallo flied out, Combs hit Dom Pangallo with a pitch. But Cain flied out to end the threat.

The Thoroughbreds graduate nine seniors from this year’s squad. They are Cain, Bueter, Collopy, Dom Pangallo, Kevin Hoffstedder, Seibert, Bartels and Alex Grau. Grau could not play after fouling off a pitch below his right eye in Thursday’s 36th District Championship 3-0 loss to Highlands.

It still marked another great season for the Thoroughbreds. They won their first All “A” state championship a few weeks ago.