Forced to play Sunday due to the weather, Lima Senior found itself a few players down and on an unfamiliar field. However, the scrappy Spartans managed to outlast Mansfield Senior, 8-6, in the first round of the Division I Sectional at Simmons Field Sunday.
With the win, Lima Senior improves 4-15 and will turn around and play the No. 1 seed Sylvania Southview in the next round of postseason. Mansfield Senior ends its season with a 1-16 mark.
Spartans head coach T.J. Neuhaus, whose team was missing several players due to family commitments ,said, “We have got to grind to win. That is what we are all about is the grind. We did what we had to do today.”
Perhaps exemplifying that gritty mentality most for Lima Senior was Spartan starter Bryce Binkley. The sophomore hurler, who went the distance, weaved his way in and out of trouble throughout the game and his determination was evident in the sixth inning.
Binkley found himself in a bases-loaded jam when he surrendered three consecutive singles to open the frame that led to two runs.
After striking out the next two batters, the Spartans pitcher appeared to escape a big inning. However, the Tygers got a single from Jessie Poelvoorde, who was 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored, for their third run and a rattled Binkley then plunked the next batter and followed that up with a walk. But Binkley settled down and dug deep to strike out the clean-up man Dakota Auflick to stem Mansfield’s momentum.
In the top of the sixth, Binkley and the Spartans produced a one-two-three inning, the only one of the game for Lima Senior, to secure the victory. In the game, the sophomore Spartan gave up 1o hits and one walk while striking out seven.
“He is a fiery kid with a live arm,” Neuhaus said. “He is a really smart kid. He wanted it and that is what I like about Bryce is that when it comes down to it he wants the ball in his hand and that is perfect and the type of player I want.”
Lima Senior took advantage of Mansfield’s five errors and five walks to score runs.
With the score knotted at 2-2 after three innings, the Spartans would score six runs in the fourth and fifth to build up a lead they would not relinquish.
In the fourth frame, Lima Senior scratched out two runs after Tyger starter Ryan Mills walked in two runners with the bases loaded. The Spartans followed that up in the fifth with four more runs after taking advantage of two Tyger errors and collecting three hits.
Spartans shortstop Caleb Dugan, who was 3 for 4 with two runs, hit a bases-loaded single to knock in two. D’Niyae Morris followed with a single to notch his second RBI of the game.
“Like I was telling the kids in the huddle we just seem to have that one inning defensively and we are not mentally strong to get over it,” Mansfield Senior head coach John Beasely said. “We would like to have pulled through.”
The Spartans celebration of this sectional win, which Neuhaus said was the team’s first postseason win in five years, will be short-lived as they travel to Sylvania Southview today in the next round.
“We are hoping to put on a good show for the fans,” Neuhaus said. “They are a good ballclub and the NLL (Northern Lakes League) is a pitching league and the TRAC (Three Rivers Athletic Conference) is hitting conference so I am confident in what we are going to bring tomorrow.”
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