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Battle of AAC wills

Champion edges out Girard in eight innings

Special to Tribune Chronicle / Dianna Oatridge Champion baserunner Jordon Melton slides back to first base as Girard first baseman Shawn Leasure awaits the throw during Champion’s 3-2 eight-inning victory in Girard on Monday.

GIRARD — The game was on when Champion met Girard in what most saw as just a normal regular-season baseball game.

But this one meant a lot to both teams. The Golden Flashes are the defending state champions, out to prove they’re ready to reload, while Girard is the up-and-coming challenger, trying to knock off the champs.

Both teams proved something in this one.

Champion held off the Indians for a 3-2, eight-inning victory over Girard in an All-American Conference, Blue Tier clash.

“When I first came here (to be Champion’s coach), Girard had won the league two years in a row,” Champion coach Rick Yauger recalled. “We said the same thing, ‘If you want to win the league, you’ve got to go through Girard.’ So I think people are probably saying, ‘Hey, if you want to win the league, you’ve got to go through Champion. You’ve got to beat ’em.’

Special to Tribune Chronicle / Dianna Oatridge Champion’s Drake Batcho delivers a pitch during the Flashes’ 3-2 extra-inning victory against Girard on Monday.

“We knew they were a quality baseball team. We knew it was going to be a game, and we knew it was going to be a battle. They were ready, and I wanted to see how they’d respond to some adversity, and I like what I’ve seen.”

It took seven innings for the adversity to come.

Champion star left-hander Drake Batcho, a Cincinnati Bearcats recruit, pitched five shutout innings, striking out nine and yielding just one hit before giving way to fellow standout Andrew Russell, a junior destined for Ohio University who threw a shutout in the state final last year. Russell was perfect in the sixth but ran into some trouble in the seventh, with Champion (2-0, 1-0) leading 2-0.

Austin Claussell singled to start the inning, and after a strikeout, Nick Malito was hit by a pitch. A double steal then put runners on second and third, but another strikeout by Russell had Girard (1-1, 0-1) down to its last out. The Indians didn’t flinch, with Braydon Freeland lacing a hard grounder down the first baseline that got underneath the first baseman’s glove and brought in two runs.

“They believe, and there’s the proof right there,” Girard coach Aaron Alejars said. “They didn’t give up. (Freeland) put the bat on the ball hard, put pressure on that kid to make the play, and fortunately for us he didn’t.

“The mentality for us was, ‘We’re in it.’ We still believed we could win. The game was still going. We still had one strike left, so we still had a chance.”

The game remain tied as Russell struck out the side to end the seventh inning. After a long at-bat by Nolan Yartz led to him earning his third single of the game, Russell was up next in the top of the eighth. The No. 3 hitter smashed a double into the left-center field gap, and with Yartz coming around to score, Champion went back up, 3-2.

“I make sure I (play) both ways,” said Russell, who started at shortstop for the first five innings. “I’m here to hit and play the infield and do everything I can for my team.”

Girard relief pitcher Tyler O’Dell worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam with no one out to keep the score at 3-2, but Girard had a base-running blunder in the bottom of the eighth. Brady Hunkus reached on an error, but when Aidan Warga flied out to right-center field, Hunkus wandered too far off first base with a hit-and-run play called and was doubled up.

That left it up to O’Dell, who worked the count full after being down 0-2 to Russell. He was hit by the payoff pitch and moved to second on another single by Claussell, meaning the winning run was now at first base. Russell induced a grounder to first and covered the bag for the final out of a well-played game between two teams with high expectations.

“That’s huge, especially with a bunch of new kids, that was huge that we were able to come back from this,” said Batcho of Champion rallying to win after giving up two runs in the seventh. “Nobody hung their head. They were all ready to go again. That was big for us.”

Starter Nick DeGregory held Champion in check for much of the game. He allowed just two runs — one earned — on four hits while striking out nine and walking four. Champion scored its first two runs in the third, one of which came on an errant throw. Both teams had two errors.

“We’ll bounce back,” Alejars said. “This was a great game for high school baseball. It’s unfortunate one side has to lose. In the grand scheme of things, we’ve got winners in that dugout — just by the way they carry themselves and never give up and believe.”

The teams are scheduled to play again at 5 p.m. today in Champion, weather permitting.

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