Cougars are regional champions

When South Central senior Rudy Hablewitz returned to the Cougars baseball team this spring, everyone knew his defense in centerfield was going to be a benefit.

Little did anyone know that it would be the reason South Central earned a regional championship.

Hablewitz – who decided not to play baseball in the fall – made a sliding catch in the right-centerfield gap to end the game and deny Altamont’s Jon Kuhns of what would have been a game-winning double as the Cougars picked up the regional title on Saturday with a 4-3 win at Lions Field in Kinmundy.

The win moves South Central (9-14) to the Class 1A Cumberland Sectional, where the Cougars faced former Midland Trail Conference rival North Clay on Wednesday.

Twice during the spring season, North Clay shut out the Cougars, and results of that game will be posted at www.leaderunion.com by Thursday morning.

The first inning of Saturday’s game was a busy one for both teams’ offenses.

South Central opened with four runs in the top of the first, with Dylan Smith delivering a two-out, three-run double off of Altamont’s Clayton Ruckman. Kyle Bray also had an RBI single in the inning.

The Indians (15-6) cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame off of South Central ace Dan Diss, but the game would quiet down until the seventh inning.

No runs would score in the middle five frames, and Altamont got a run across the plate in the bottom of the seventh, before leaving runners on first and third bases when Hablewitz made his game-saving catch.

Diss (3-5) struck out eight for the Cougars, scattering nine hits, but allowing just on earned run.

The Indians were favored by seed in the game, but it was strength of schedule that likely helped South Central.

All spring, the Cougars have regularly intermixed games against Class 2A and Class 3A schools in their schedule, which has lowered their record but improved their underdog mentality.

Saturday, May 18
South Central 4
Altamont 3
S: 4-0-0-0-0-0-0—4-3-1
A: 2-0-0-0-0-0-1—3-9-0
WP: Diss (3-5); 7 IP, 8 K
LP: Ruckman; 7 IP, 7 K
Cougars: Smith, 2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI. Bray, 1-for-3, RBI.
Record: 9-14

***

KINMUNDY – Three home runs for South Central and some uncharacteristically mediocre defense from St. Elmo last Thursday allowed the Cougars to reach the regional finals.

Senior Kyle Bray launched a home run that hit three-quarters of the way up a 50-60-foot tall tree beyond the right-field fence at Lions Field in Kinmundy, and senior Austin Schwarm and sophomore Noah Powless also hit long balls to lead South Central to a 12-0 victory.

“I was glad to see us hit the ball hard,” said coach Curt Jones. “They helped us out some by not making some plays that they could have.”

In the fourth inning, St. Elmo committed four errors to combine with 10 South Central hits – including the home run by Powless – to let the Cougars score 10 runs in the inning.

St. Elmo coach Ryan Beccue said the defensive woes were the first one of their kind all spring.

“We haven’t had that type of defensive breakdown all year long, and it all fell apart in one inning,” he said. “If we didn’t have that inning, and it went seven innings, we might have scored some runs.”

Cougars senior Shawn Meyer struck out four over four innings of work, holding the Eagles to just one hit and three walks.

He was aided by his defense, with senior Rudy Hablewitz ranging to make a pair of catches in centerfield, and senior Fischer Tharp stabbing a high liner at shortstop.

The Cougars (8-14) got on the board with Bray’s solo home run in the first inning, and Schwarm followed with his homer two batters later.

“That made everybody relax,” Jones said. “It’s a confidence thing at this time of the year.”

No damage was done in the third, but the Cougars rolled the second-inning confidence into the fourth, getting four singles in the first five at-bats of the inning.

Four more singles over the next six batters set up Powless’ homer, giving each of South Central’s No. 3-5 hitters a long ball in the game.

“The last two or three games, we have started to put it together, and now is a good time to at least think you’re doing well,” Jones said.

For the Eagles (11-7), the final season of St. Elmo baseball came to a close with a winning record.

St. Elmo will co-op in the sport at Brownstown starting next fall, and this spring marked the end of the careers of Connor Beasley, Garrett Bartels, Ben Davis and Ethan Scholes.

“Connor and Garrett have been around here since they were little kids in junior high,” Beccue said. “We expected a lot of those two guys in all aspects, and they have done a good job with it and grown up a lot this year.

“Ben was a rookie, and worked hard and did exactly what we told him to,” Beccue said. “Ethan is another senior who had never played baseball, and we played some of these games because of him, since we only have 11 kids.”

Box score
Thursday, May 16
Regional Semifinals
South Central 12
St. Elmo 0
SE: 0-0-0-0-0—0-4-4
SC: 0-2-0-10-X—12-12-1
WP: Meyer; 4 IP, 4 K
LP: Beasley; 3 2/3 IP, 5 K
Cougars: Powless, 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs; Bray, 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, 3 runs; Schwarm, 2-for-2, HR, RBI, 2 runs; Heath Hoffman, 2-for-3, run; Dylan Smith, 1-for-3, 2 RBI, run; Dan Diss, 1-for-3, RBI, run; Tharp, 1-for-3, run; Meyer, 1-for-2, RBI, sac bunt; Drake Ritter, run.
Record: 8-14
Eagles: Malachi Maxey, 1-for-1, BB; Nick Bauer, 1-for-2; Levi Maxey, 1-for-3; Bartels, 1-for-3; Beasley, 2 BB, SB.
Record: 11-7