Patriots advance to semifinal (05/29/07)

HARTFORD CITY - There were no mixed feelings this time.

The Patriots were elated, and the Panthers irate.

The contrasting feelings were brought on by the final out - a diving catch that wasn't by Jay County center fielder Luke Goetz - which knocked Elwood out of the Class 3A sectional baseball tournament 3-2 Monday evening at Blackford.

The No. 7 Patriots (22-5) carried the one-run lead into the seventh inning, but down to its last out Elwood (21-8) fought back. Aaron Klein was hit by a pitch from Michael Jobe, and Troy Worsley followed with a single to right field to put runners on first and third.

That brought clean-up man Nate Wills to the plate, and the senior fell behind 0-2 to Jobe. Wills stayed alive by fighting off four pitches with foul balls, then hit a looping fly ball toward center field.

Goetz, who was playing deep to try to eliminate the possibility of an extra-base hit, came charging in, got his glove under the ball, rolled over and then lifted his hand in the air to show he had control.

The umpire signaled that the batter was out, which brought Elwood coach Adrian Heim charging onto the field yelling that the ball had not been caught. He had a point.

The ball did pop out of Goetz's glove and rolled onto the ground before he picked it back up and lifted it in the air. But his acting job fooled the umpiring crew, and the Patriots were left to celebrate while the Panthers fumed.

It was a much different situation than when the Patriots met two weeks earlier and split a double-header, leaving both coaches with positive and negative things to say. Monday, the only official comment on the final play came from JCHS coach Lea Selvey in praise of his junior center fielder.

"It was an outstanding effort," said Selvey. "It takes (guts) to go for a ball like that."

Heim chose not to comment, although he indicated his displeasure with the umpiring crew and his feeling that the final call cost his team the winning run.

Had the play not been ruled a catch, the Panthers would have at least scored the game-tying run and a chance for more. Jay County also would have had an opportunity to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the seventh.

Mississinewa won the second game Monday 11-8 over Delta, and will play Jay County in the first of two semifinal games Friday at 5 p.m. The host Bruins and Tipton will meet in Friday's second game at 7:30 p.m., and the winners will return to Blackford Saturday to play in the championship game at 11 a.m.

Jobe, who would have led off the bottom of the seventh if necessary, put the Patriots on top in the bottom of the first. The junior crushed a line drive leadoff home run over the scoreboard in left-center field.

"I saw a curve ball. I figured it was coming and I just whaled on it and it went," said Jobe. "It felt pretty good. It was probably one of the best hits I had all year."

The junior also singled to lead off the third inning after giving up two runs in the second. Josh Ludy added a one-out single, and Thomas McCowan smashed a two-run double off the fence in right-center field for the 3-2 lead.

Jobe did the rest as he settled down after giving up two runs on four hits in the first two innings. He allowed just one hit in the third through sixth innings, striking out five batters in the process.

"I was getting a little nervous there in the beginning and then I settled down," said Jobe of the game, which had its start delayed for more than an hour because of lightning and rain. "Then in the top of the seventh I got about as nervous as you can get, but Luke bailed me out on that one."

The win was Jobe's 11th of the year, moving him to within one of the school record set by Dean Hunt in 1976. He gave up the two runs on six hits - all singles - and two walks while striking out seven batters.

"(It was a) heck of a pitched game by Jobe, and our defense and pitching won it for us today with a couple of timely hits," said Selvey, whose team finished with six hits. "(The Panthers are) an outstanding ball club. We knew coming in here that we had to play pretty well to beat them."

Damon Hughes suffered the loss for Elwood, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out three batters in four innings before giving way to Nate Wills.

No. 9 hitter Cody VanBuskirk drove in both Panther runs with a single in the second inning. Darren Jones singled and Hughes walked in front of VanBuskirk and each scored, and Jacob Dunnichay had a pair of hits.[[In-content Ad]]