By Fred Kroner
Joshua Ruch’s one-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday (May 20) lifted Oakwood to a 5-4 win in a Class 2A regional championship baseball game over Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin at Meier Field, in St. Joseph.
Hobick had two hits in the game and Ruch delivered two RBI.
Oakwood was the No. 6 seed. B-H/R-A was seeded ninth.
Travis Tiernan (11-0) pitched all seven innings for the Comets. He allowed seven hits and one earned run while walking one batter and striking out five.
The victory established a new school record for team wins in a season in baseball. The previous mark of 25 was held by the 2015 squad. Tiernan’s 11 pitching wins are also a season school record.
All nine Oakwood players who went to the plate collected a hit.
The others, besides Ruch and Hobick, were Grant Powell, Bryson Marcinko, Matthew Miller, Tiernan, Chase Harrison, Cort Vermillion and Derek Drews.
With Hobick and Tiernan teaming up on a shutout, Oakwood ousted Westville at St. Joseph-Ogden’s Meier Field in a regional semifinal game on Thursday (May 18).
The Comets dispatched the fourth-seeded Tigers, 4-0, in an eight-inning contest.
Hobick threw the first seven innings, allowing four hits and two walks. He struck out seven hitters. Tiernan pitched the bottom of the eighth and retired all three batters that he faced.
Drews, Powell, Marcinko and Hobick scored the Oakwood runs.
Miller delivered a two-run hit. Hobick also had an RBI.
The Comets managed six hits, two by Miller and one apiece by Drews, Marcinko, Hobick and Ruch.
Oakwood (26-6-1) has a nine-game winning streak and returns to action at Millikin University, in Decatur, for a 7 p.m. sectional semifinal game against Bloomington Central Catholic on Wednesday (May 24).
BCC won its regional crown with a 16-2, five-inning victory over Tremont in the finals.
