Fired-up Jeffcats skewer Cavaliers in semis

By Brooke Apple, bapple
Published:  Saturday, May 31, 2008 (5 months, 3 weeks ago)
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HUBER HEIGHTS —The Jefferson baseball team has been fired up for its first regional berth in 77 years.
The boys came out strong from the very first inning as soon as they stepped foot onto the diamond.
The Wildcats traveled to Huber Heights Wayne High School to battle with the Sidney Lehman Cavaliers for a Division IV regional semifinal game,  prevailing 10-0 in five innings as they increase their record to 19-6.
Mike Rahrig (8-1, winning his last eight decisions) started and completed the game for the Wildcats, throwing only 58 pitches (20 balls, 38 strikes). He fanned five and gave up only one hit.
Rahrig set down the Cavaliers one, two, three in the top half of the first.
The ’Cats came out strong in the bottom half of the inning with two outs as they scored four runs on four hits. Josh Miller (3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 runs, SB) started the rally with a base hit to the opposite side of the field followed by Adam Kraning and Aaron Schuerman (2-for-2, 2 runs) being walked on four pitches each. Matt Gerdeman (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) came up huge with a base hit up the middle to plate Miller and Kraning. Damon Joseph (3-for-3, 4 RBIs) drilled a ball down the right-field line to plate Schuerman and Gerdeman before getting thrown out at second by a throw from the catcher to end the inning.
“They are a very quality team, just like Minster was, but the kids stayed relaxed and did what they needed to do. Mike was doing his thing and had a fantastic game, just like he has had in his past seven times out. Throwing a 1-hitter is great as the whole team played well all night to help the cause.” stated Jefferson coach Troy Montenery.
The second inning went quickly as both teams got three outs right away.
The third inning, the Cavaliers were able to get their only hit of the game as Jordan Springer had a line shot down the left-field line for a double but Rahrig induced the next batter to ground out to Sean Fisher.
The Wildcats managed to tally one run on two hits in the bottom of the third as Miller got on with a base hit, stole second, reached third by tagging up when Kraning hit a fly ball to right field and then scored when Schuerman got a base hit. The inning ended when pitcher Spencer Pectier tried to pick him off, so he headed to second, which then caused an out when the first baseman threw it to the shortstop. At the end of three innings, the score was 5-0.
Rahrig decided to take the top of the fourth into his own hands as he made all three outs, making a quick recovery of the ball after a hard shot right back at him and making the out and then striking out the next two batters.
The fourth inning for Jefferson was another big inning as Joseph got a base hit, beating out the throw from the third baseman as he held the ball too long. Joseph scored when Chris Wilkin (1-for-2, RBI) hit a single to right center. Wilkin and Cory Bastian both scored when Miller hit a single to give the Wildcats a lead of 8-0.
The Cavaliers tried to get something started in the fifth with a bunt but Rahrig was on top of his game and made the out and then struck out the next two batters to end the inning with the Jefferson offense only needing to score two runs to go home with the victory and move onto the regional final game today.
The Wildcats did just this as Schuerman started off with a base hit and advanced on a passed ball. Joseph then stepped up to the plate with one out and hit a walk-off home run to end the game for the Wildcats.
“Everyone was hitting tonight and contributing, which really set the tone as they started off strong in the first inning. Joseph’s walk-off was his first home run of the season and was a great thing for his senior year,” added Montenery. “We had a lot of support today from the fans, who came a long way to watch the game. We hope to see them again this afternoon.”
The ’Cats will take on Fort Laramie today with a start time of 2 p.m.

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