Minster wins its first ACME state title

COLDWATER – On Monday night at Coldwater’s Veterans Field, Minster was vying for its first-ever ACME baseball state championship.

The path was not an easy one.

The first thing on Monday’s agenda, was to resume Sunday’s suspended semifinal game against Defiance, in which the Wildcats trailed 2-0 in the fourth inning.

Minster battled back against Defiance in Monday’s semifinal, forced extra innings and eventually won 3-2 in eight innings.

Next up for Minster on Monday night was Van Wert in the state championship game.

And somewhat similar to its semifinal game a few hours earlier in the day, it took the Wildcats (18-6) eight innings to defeat Van Wert (16-6) in the championship game, 3-0, and notch its first ACME state title.

Minster starting pitcher James Niemeyer pitched a gem against the Cougars in the championship game. The senior right-hander worked all eight innings, yielded just two base hits, struck out 12, walked four and hit one batter. He threw 97 pitches in his extra-inning complete game.

“I’m very happy with how everybody performed, especially with two games today,” Minster coach Jay Eilerman said. “It was tough after winning the first one, and then to come back and get into the mindset. I thought he (James Niemeyer) did really well today.”

Niemeyer said that he felt confident not only about his control on the mound but also about his teammates around him.

“My curveball was pretty good tonight, I’d say. I kept them off-balance with the fastball that I ran in there. (The) defense played well behind me and didn’t make many errors. I felt really confident. I knew I wasn’t going to give up any runs. It’s pretty cool to be the first (Minster team) to do this (win ACME state championship),” Niemeyer said.

With Monday’s championship game scoreless through seven innings, Minster finally broke it open in the top of the eighth with three runs on three hits. Niemeyer shut the Cougars down in the bottom of the eighth.

With one out in the top of the eighth, Minster centerfielder Caleb Couse lined a single to left that scored Chase Dirksen, who came in to pinch-run for Andrew Wiss. Wiss led off the inning with a walk.

Two batters later, Connor Schmiesing drove in Dylan Heitkamp with a base hit to left. Heitkamp got on base with a walk. Two batters later, Rylan Edwards brought Schmiesing around to score with a single.

“I think we’re really confident in the hitting. … We know it’s going to come,” Eilerman said, “So, today, it just felt like, ‘When are we going to get that guy on, get him over and break it open?’ It didn’t happen until the eighth (inning) today, but I’m just happy that it did happen. I can’t say enough about these guys. They just have a lot of heart, and they grind it out.”

Hayden Dowler got the starting nod on the mound for Van Wert in Monday’s championship game. The senior right-hander worked 7 1/3 innings before being lifted.

Dowler was tabbed for the three runs. He scattered just three hits, struck out two, walked two and threw 109 pitches.

Nathan Gearhart moved over from his second-base position for Van Wert to take over pitching duties in the eighth with one out.

“I’m not disappointed at all,” Van Wert coach Hayden Maples said. “To be honest, I don’t think anybody expected us to make it this far. I think people looked at this group and just pushed them aside. I couldn’t be prouder of these kids.”

Van Wert defeated Indian Lake in its semifinal game on Monday, 2-1.

Van Wert mustered just three base hits in its winning effort.

Indian Lake managed to record just two hits off Van Wert’s pitching.

Hayden Davis worked 6 2/3 innings on the mound for the Cougars to record the win. Davis struck out five and walked five.

ACME STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Minster 3, Van Wert 0

Box score (r-h-e)

Minster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 – 3-4-1

Van Wert 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0-2-3

WP – James Niemeyer (M)

LP- Hayden Dowler (VW)

Minster 3 (ab-r-h-rbi)

Dylan Heitkamp 3-0-0-0, Connor Schmiesing 4-1-1-1, James Niemeyer 4-0-0-0, Rylan Edwards 4-0-1-1, Louis Magoto 4-0-1-0, Ian Homan 3-0-0-0, Andrew Wiss 2-0-0-0, Reese Beair 3-0-0-0, Caleb Couse 3-0-1-0

Van Wert 0 (ab-r-h-rbi)

Griffin McCracken 3-0-0-0, Nathan Gearhart 4-0-0-0, Hayden Davis 2-0-0-0, Case Stegaman 3-0-0-0, Hayden Dowler 2-0-0-0, Briston Wise 3-0-1-0, Donovan Winkeljohn 3-0-0-0, Conner Harris 3-0-0-0, Finley Dickinson 3-0-1-0

SEMIFINAL

Van Wert 2, Indian Lake 1

Box score (r-h-e)

Indian Lake – 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 2 2

Van Wert – 0 0 0 1 0 1 X – 2 3 2

WP – Hayden Davis (VW)

LP – Madden Lillard (IL)

2B – (VW) – Case Stegaman

Indian Lake 1 (ab-r-h-rbi)

Madden Lillard 2-0-1-1, Griffin Schaub 2-0-0-0, Tyler Tidwell 3-0-1-0, Bryce Burton 3-0-0-0, Brady Golliday 3-0-0-0, Cyrus Cummins 1-1-0-0, Colton Corcoran 2-0-1-0, Aaron Rapp 2-0-0-0.

Van Wert 2 (ab-r-h-rbi)

Griffin McCracken 2-0-0-0, Nathan Gearhart 3-0-0-0, Hayden Davis 2-1-0-0, Hayden Dowler 3-0-0-0, Case Stegaman 3-1-1-0, Briston Wise 3-0-0-0, Camdyn Werts 2-0-0-0, Donovan Winkeljohn 2-0-1-0, Trevor Halker 2-0-1-0