1A State Semi Finals Game 1

Kennard v Nazareth

It was 9AM and already hot but no one at Dell Diamond cared as we were still playing baseball.  The battery for the home team Nazareth Swifts was Trent Gerber on the mound with Luke Schulte receiving.  The Kennard Tigers would throw Dylan Cole with Keyton Lumbreraz behind the dish.

Trent Gerber would get 3 quick outs (2 flyouts to center and a strikeout) to get the Swifts up to bat quickly in the top of the first.  Carson Heiman would get the first hit for the Swifts.  Trent Gerber would get the second to quickly put a runner in scoring position.  Tanner Birkenfled blooped one over third to load the bases for Brett Young.  Young hit a soft hit just in front of the plate to score Heiman.  Cole would get his second strikeout of the day and entice Braden Bullard to ground out to end the inning.  Despite a lot of traffic on the bases, the damage is limited to just 1 run.

Keyton Lumreraz would lead of the 2^nd with a single to left.  A strikeout followed by a pitchers best friend (AKA a double play) ends the top of the 2^nd for the Tigers.  Jack Welps lead off the bottom of  the 2^nd with a single to left center.  Cole would record strikeout number 3 on the day with a swing and miss by Will Young.  A hard liner up the middle was knocked down by Cole and Welps was stuck in no mans land between 2^nd and 3^rd.  A well executed pickle records the second out.  Heiman flies out to center to end the inning.

Gerber gets two quick outs in the 3^rd as Montero and Farmer both ground out.  Dowdy would strike out to quickly put the Swifts back in the dugout.  Cole recorded a quick two outs himself with 2 ground outs to second followed by a line out to center fielder Elijah Dowdy and the Tigers were back in the dugout.  In the 4^th, Gerber would pick up where he left off with a ground out to first.  An error on the throw to first followed by a Dylan Cole single puts Tigers on first and second with one out.  Gerber gets Lumbreraz and Pilkington to go down swinging to end the Tigers half of the 4^th.   Cole gets Bullard to ground out.  Then Bullard grounds out to short and Welps to first to end the 4^th.

The pitchers duel continued in the 5^th as Gerber would get a groundout and 2 more strikeouts.  Despite a leadoff single, Cole would match the efforts with fielders choice and a popout to first.  Shortstop Jaden Kulms saved a hit with a diving play at short and an accurate throw to first to end the inning.  Gerber gets strikeout number 8 for the first out of the 6^th.  A routine groundout to shortstop Carson Heiman gives the Swifts 2 outs but a error on the second baseman put Elijah Dowdy on first.  No damage was done as the next pitch was a flyout to Jack Welps in right field.  Gerber would get 2 more strikeouts in the bottom of the single before a blooper to short drops in.  The next pitch would be a lineout to left and Kennard would head to the plate.

In the top of the 7^th, Gerber would get a quick fly out to second.  Rayan Pilkington would single to right field.  Gerber continued his dominance with two more strikeouts to end the game.  Nazareth would advance to the State Championship game.  This was an outstanding baseball game with great performances by both pitchers.

WP – Gerber
LP –  Cole

Player of the Game: Trent Gerber