Spoerr shuts down Monroeville, powers Crestview into district final
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SHELBY - Drew Spoerr likes pitching against Monroeville.
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"I know what they have top to bottom," Crestview's senior ace said.
Just as he did six weeks earlier, Spoerr pitched a complete game against the Eagles. Only this time it was in a Division VI district semifinal and his No. 3 Cougars ended No. 2 Monroeville's season with a 7-1 win.
"The fastball was working today," Spoerr said. "I was able to throw it and, thankfully, they were swinging and missing. I knew they were a good hitting team, so I had to locate it well, I couldn't leave it down the middle or they'd punish me for that. Throwing the fastball where I wanted it and being able to mix in the off-speed when I could."
He was efficient on the bump throwing just 87 pitches (62 strikes) allowing just three hits and one run while striking out eight and walking two. In their regular season meeting he threw a one-hitter shutout and struck out 12 — yes, 20 strikeouts, one run, four hits across two complete games.
"I can't say enough about Drew Spoerr," Crestview coach Don Keener said. "The way he pitched today was outstanding."
The score line is a bit misleading as to just how close the game was. A scoreless opening three innings where neither team sent more than four batters up at a time was finally ended as both teams put up a run in the fourth, Grady Cline drove in Brayden Parrigan for the Cougars and Reid Wasserman stole home for the Eagles.
Crestview looked as if it would retake the lead in the fifth with Kaden Stutz seemingly beating out the throw to home, but the umpire deemed otherwise. The Cougars would get their second run in the next inning as Kayn Patton reached base on an error and advanced to second on the same play. He moved to third on a groundout by Cline and Monroeville's Alex Dowell fired the ball to third trying to catch Patton off the base but the throw was wide and allowed him to safely reach home.
"That's the good thing about these guys, they realize we gotta go out and take care of what we need to take care of and we responded," Keener said. "They didn't let it bother them, which is what you have to do, and they fought."
It was all the spark the Cougars needed carrying that momentum into the seventh with the bottom of the order coming up. Troy Weaver led off with a single, Stutz drew a walk, and Brennan Dille singled to drive in Weaver for what would be a five-run inning to take a commanding 7-1 lead — Spoerr sat down the Eagles in order on just six pitches to end it.
"That just speaks to the leadership on this team, not just the seniors," Spoerr said of his team's resiliency after the controversial call to end the fifth. "We were able to put that behind us, go play defense, and just play the game we know how to play.
"Thankfully it didn't matter."
Most teams wouldn't be thrilled situationally to see the bottom of the order coming up with the hopes of adding insurance runs — quite the opposite for Keener.
"He has been doing well for us all year," he said of Weaver. "He hits the ball hard, puts it in play, and that's all we can ask for. He's going to find a hole once in a while and it was a great start for us. He has good speed, so once he gets on ... we started stringing things together, it's kind of contagious sometimes."
Keener, Parrigan, and Landon Fulk had two hits apiece, Patton scored twice, Cline had two RBIs for the Cougars who will have a chance to win their first district championship since 1988.
"It means everything," Spoerr said. "I've known since the beginning of the year that we had the talent to get here, it was just a matter of winning the game to get here. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to play on Friday."
The only thing standing in their way now is a Seneca East team that upset top-seed Carey, they'll meet at 5 p.m. on Friday at Marathon Diamonds in Findlay.
"I know they're very good," Keener said. "We were supposed to play them earlier this year but we didn't get a chance to, it was one of those games we had to move because of rain outs and all that good stuff. I'm gonna have to do some digging a little bit. We played them last year and I think they have a pretty similar squad to what they had ... they have some really good hitters in their lineup.
"We'll just go out there and give them all we have."
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Crestview baseball tops Monroeville in district semifinal