TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2000

New Riegel wins regional title

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

LIMA -- New Riegel seems to find ways to perfect the exciting finish to baseball games.

Three days after slipping by Riverdale with a run in the bottom of the seventh off an infield hit, the Blue Jackets surrendered a pair of runs Monday in the bottom of the seventh before holding off Ayersville 4-2 for the Division IV regional crown.

The victory moved the 21-6 Blue Jackets into the state semifinals for the first time since they won the state title in 1969. New Riegel will battle St. Henry in the semifinal game Thursday at 11 a.m. at Ohio State University, with the winner moving to Saturday's championship game.

After the first six innings Monday, it looked like the Blue Jackets would coast into the state tournament.

They led 4-0 and senior starting pitcher Keith Laughlin had a one-hitter going with eight strikeouts.

But Ayersville had other ideas.

Chad Reineke led off the bottom of the seventh and reached first when second baseman Darin Nye misplayed his grounder. Jason Grossheim followed with a towering blast to dead center that fell behind a twisting, turning Derek Uitto for a double.

Back-to-back walks to Brett Morris and Matt Rue and a sacrifice fly by Sean Kohl cut New Riegel's lead to 4-2 and put runners on first and second with just one out.

Coach Dave Uitto had made a trip to the mound early in the inning to settle down the Blue Jackets and was even thinking about pulling Laughlin and putting in Jason Humphrey.

But the thought didn't last long.

"I just asked Keith if he was all right," Uitto said. "He said he was all right and I just told them 'catch the ball.' It's what we told them all year -- when you see it, catch it. You don't have to make it any more complicated than what it is."

The seventh-inning sac fly was followed by two straight flyouts to left fielder Paul Borer, the last held in the park by a strong wind, to end the threat and the game and set off a wild celebration by the Blue Jackets and their fans.

"We had a good chance," Ayersville coach Jim Leininger said after his Pilots ended the year 19-7. "A couple of balls we just missed, and a little different wind today than the other day.

"It's tough when you're down four to nothing to try to get four of them back in the last inning, but we did a good job of trying and you have to give their pitcher credit, he threw a great game against us," he said.

New Riegel was in almost total control from the first inning.

Derek Uitto, son of coach Dave Uitto, led off the game with a single to right, moved to second on Darin Nye's bunt single and scored when Ayersville shortstop Kyle Jackson rifled the ball into the crowd trying to throw out Brett Hammer at first.

In the second, leadoff hitter Paul Borer drew a walk and moved to third on two balks before Ron Shellhammer laced a two-out single to right to score him.

Nye added a run in the third, hitting a one-out double and scoring when Hammer lined a single off the outstretched glove of Ayersville first baseman Josh Edmonds.

The Blue Jackets had a chance to add another that inning, but Hammer was caught in a rundown between third and home after Edmonds fielded a grounder by Humphrey.

It stayed 3-0 until the sixth, when Laughlin ripped a two-out single up the middle and went to second on Aaron Lafontaine's single. Reineke, the Ayersville pitcher, then uncorked a wild pitch but Pilots' catcher James Yenser corralled it and tried to pick off Lafontaine going to second.

Lafontaine got into a rundown between first and second and Laughlin motored home from third, just beating the throw to the plate while Lafontaine wound up on second.

The first three runs were a big boost for the Blue Jackets, according to coach Uitto, especially with Reineke pitching a great game for the Pilots.

"Always, for us, it's important (to score early). I've said that before," he said. "We've hit maybe five home runs all year. If we fall behind, we really have to scrap to come back.

"We're not going to get two guys on and have somebody bang a three-run homer," he said. "We told them the two or three innings when we're swinging the bats, we're doing stuff with them."

Reineke kept the Blue Jackets from doing much, though.

The senior struck out 12 New Riegel batters, including five who watched the third strike sail by.

But Laughlin was nearly untouchable for the Blue Jackets on his way to improving to 10-1 on the year.

Brad Wolfrum beat out a one-out infield single in the first when Laughlin didn't cover first on a ball hit between first and second, but Shellhammer threw out Wolfrum at second on a steal attempt.

Reineke drew a walk in the first, one of four issued by Laughlin in the game, but was left stranded on base.

Rue led off the second with a walk but never got any farther, and that was followed by four three-up, three-down innings by the Blue Jackets before the seventh inning.

"We couldn't get anything going, we couldn't get anybody on and then in the final inning we finally got somebody on base and it was a whole different story after that," Leininger said. "He (Laughlin) was in a groove and stayed in his groove and threw the ball well."

And he was confident, too, according to Uitto.

"He said he was alright (in the seventh). He's a senior and until he says he's coming out, I guess he's not coming out," Uitto said. "That guy's a bulldog, he didn't want to be taken out of the game.

"I guess that's what this game's about, you have to make those kinds of decisions once in a while," he said. "Or sometimes the kids make them for you."