District baseball: Avon Lake comeback falls short in 12th against Twinsburg

AVON LAKE — There is postseason baseball and then there is what 11th-seeded Avon Lake and No. 22-seeded Twinsburg did in their Division II district semifinal Tuesday. A pitchers' duel led to extra innings — the game was tied at 3 after seven innings — and the Tigers seemingly put the game away with five runs in the 12th. But Avon Lake fought back and had the winning run on base before finally falling 8-7. Twinsburg (10-18) will face Brecksville on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Cuyahoga Community College after the Bees posted a 5-3 win over Avon. "I told their (Tigers) coaches in the game, whoever wins this has truly earned it," Shoremen coach Kevin Collins said. "That was an unbelievable game, and I couldn't be more proud of the way we just kept competing." The day started with Avon Lake's Bailey Thibeault and Twinsburg's Nathan Kimmel on the mound, with Kimmel regularly sitting in the high 80s and topping out in the low 90s. Avon Lake (14-11) had Kimmel on the ropes in the first two innings with multiple baserunners, but the big lefty found a way to limit the Shoremen to just one run, getting a double play in the first and the only run in the second came when Chase Cartwright (3-for-5, three RBIs) singled home Alex Hicov, who singled down the third-base line to start the inning. "So many teams had innings against (Kimmel) that were cut short when they could have put him away," Collins said. "I think we had that chance (in the first two innings) and couldn't get it done." The Tigers took the lead by scoring runs in three straight innings, starting in the third on a JD Okuma base hit, a Cole Kramer run-scoring triple in the fourth and a base hit through the right side by Zachary Shobert in the fifth for a 3-1 lead. Avon Lake came back to tie the score with runs in the fifth and sixth innings — a Josh Bobrowski ground ball was misplayed with Alex Soloff at third after a single, a steal and a throwing error for the first run, and Tyler Felton scored the tying run after an infield hit, advancing on Cartwright's second hit and scoring on a fielder's choice by Bobrowski. That's when the bullpens took over. The Tigers' Cole Kramer came on in the seventh and pitched into the 12th and was charged with the first three runs scored by the Shoremen that inning. Cole Hahn went five innings, allowing a hit in the ninth inning, JJ Bradley pitched the 11th and started the 12th before running out of gas — he allowed a single by Shobert to start the inning and then walked four batters, including two with the bases loaded. Gianni Smaldino came on and was greeted with a bases-clearing double by Kyler Hoon for what seemed to be a commanding 8-3 lead for Twinsburg. Bobrowski started the 12th for Avon Lake with a walk, and the bases were soon loaded on singles from Chase Hamilton and Grant LeHoty, chasing Kramer from the game for Gavin Davis. Davis walked Hicov for one run and pinch hitter Owen Bellamy drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly to center, cutting the lead to 8-5. Cartwright's third hit of the game made it 8-7 and he became the potential game-winning run, but Davis got a sharp grounder to second to put an end to the four-hour marathon. "I think we are set to turn the corner, we bring almost everyone back next year," Collins said. "We are going to miss these seniors, but a lot of these guys competing today are gonna feel that and (it will) drive them to be the change next year." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.