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GV’s wild ride over after loss to South Range

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems South Range catcher Jared Bajerski throws to first base as Grand Valley’s Nick Reichek runs down the first baseline Friday. The Raiders beat GV, 4-2, in a Division III regional final.

MASSILLON — In what was a tightly contested battle for the Division III Massillon regional championship, South Range defeated Grand Valley, 4-2.

Early on, Grand Valley was able to get a couple base runners but was unable to do anything with it against South Range’s Sam Brooks. Brooks pitched an incredible game to send the Raiders (16-15) to state for the first time in school history.

South Range quickly got Brooks some run support. A run-scoring double by Ben Rivera scored Jared Bajerski and then Jake Gehring hit a sacrifice fly to score Brycen James to go up 2-0.

Neither team was able to do much until the bottom of the third inning when the Raiders scored again.

James and Rivera reached base with singles. They came around to score as James scored on an RBI single and then Rivera scored on a sac fly by Mike Cunningham.

The Raiders led 4-0.

“We got the bats going,” Brooks said. “Getting a four-run lead early in the game helps so much. That gave me so much confidence in myself. Not getting ahead in the count really hurt me at times. Once they got to a 2-0 count, they could jump on my fastball.”

Brooks pitched 6-plus innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

Grand Valley (17-8) started to rally in the fourth inning. Gary Gearhart doubled to start the frame, and after Gordon Seger singled, Michael McGovern singled to score Gearhart to cut the deficit to 4-1.

“I’ve played a lot of baseball,” Grand Valley coach Matthew Brumit said. “I played in high school, college and some minor league baseball, and this is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. It’s all because of the kids in the dugout. We scored in the seventh and those are the kind of kids we have at Grand Valley. I’m real proud of them.”

GV loaded the bases in the sixth inning with one out but struck out twice to end the inning in what was its best chance to take the lead.

The Mustangs were able to continue to fight in the top of the seventh inning. Gearhart reached on a walk with two outs and then scored on a triple by Logan Newell to get it to 4-2. That’s as close as they got, however.

It was an impressive run for the Mustangs, who won four games by one run to reach the regional final. They also defeated Champion in the district semifinal, a rousing upset of the returning Division III state champs. A mostly young team could be a force again next year.

“This was a learning experience for us,” Brumit said. “We played great baseball and great teams. This is just going to make us better in the future. We kept our chins up the whole year and kept going. We didn’t get down. The kids have done that well.”

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