SOUTH WHITLEY – The Whitko High School baseball team had as many storylines as it did runs in its 4-3 win over Lakeland Friday night in Class 3A Sectional 21 action in South Whitley. Whether it was senior Ethan Nicodemus hitting a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, him gunning down a Lakeland runner at the plate in the top of the third, sophomore pitcher Tanner Gaff going all nine innings on the mound or the Wildcats winning on a balk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the game had a little of everything. However, the game-winning run is the reason Whitko will be playing NorthWood today, following the 11 a.m. semifinal between Fairfield and Wawasee. Following a leadoff groundout to open the bottom of the ninth, Gaff came to the plate with a chance to help his own cause, and he did, drilling a double to left-center field. After Lakeland sophomore relief pitcher Dylan Pranger got a strikeout, Whitko junior Zach Baughman came into pinch run for Gaff and was able to advance to third on a passed ball. With two strikes on freshman pinch hitter Drew Bradford, Baughman raced down the line, forcing Pranger to lose his focus, resulting in a balk, ending the game. “We just ran a balk/steal,” Whitko head coach Erik Hisner said of the final play of the game. “We were trying to get the pitcher to flinch in that situation. It worked out. We had nothing to lose – an 0-2 count and a runner at third. We thought, 'What the heck?' We've done some stuff earlier in the year that probably goes against the grain and it worked out. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. You take your chance and it worked out today.” The run did end the game, but if not for Nicodemus' seventh-inning blast, it never would have happened. Trailing 3-1, in what is usually the final inning of a high school baseball game, Whitko senior Seth Patrick hit a leadoff single, resulting in Lakeland coach Doug Brown taking out senior starter William Kelley and inserting Pranger. Things began well for Pranger, getting two strikes on Nicodemus, with the second being a foul popup that the catcher let get away from him. With new life, Nicodemus then got a hold of one, drilling it over the left-center fence. “Right when I hit, I knew,” Nicodemus said of the blast. And with the game on the line, Hisner had the guy he wanted at the plate. “We don't want anybody else but him in that situation,” Hisner said. “He's our guy,” he added. He makes us tick and that's why we have him in the leadoff spot – to get him as many at-bats as possible.” With the home run keeping the possibility of Whitko winning its first-ever sectional title in play, Hisner wasn't selling it short. “Barrelled it up and hit, perhaps, the biggest hit in my eight years at Whitko,” he said. The home run will be memorable, but if not for a defensive play by Nicodemus in the third inning, the dinger would have just cut the Lakeland lead to one. Tied at 1-1 in the top of the third, Lakeland got a two-hit single from senior Dalton Schmidt, which was followed by a single from senior Hunter Sams. On Sams' single to right field, the relay went to Nicodemus at his shortstop position. With no one covering second, Nicodemus ran to the base with the ball, but was too late. Instead of giving up on the play, Nicodemus alertly turned and threw to home as Schmidt was trying to score, getting him out by a wide margin. “I was listening to our players and they were calling '4', so I just turned around and threw it to home,” Nicodemus said. Perhaps trying to score on one of Whitko's ace pitchers, as well as the starting quarterback on the football team, was a bad idea, but one that got the Wildcats out of the inning. “A run saved is a run batted in, so those little things kept us in it and put us in a position to win it at the end,” Hisner said. There may have been a lot of wild things going on around the Wildcats, but one constant was Gaff. After walking the first batter he faced, then giving up an RBI-double to the second batter, Gaff settled in, going all nine innings, striking out six and allowing eight hits. “I knew he didn't have his best stuff, but he limited the damage,” Hisner said. “I thought there were some innings, even when we were trailing in the fifth, sixth and seventh, that if he doesn't buckle down and keep us in it, then the (Nicodemus) home run probably makes it 4-3 or 5-3. You have to give him a lot of credit for sticking with it and keeping us in it, giving us a chance.” Gaff admitted that he may have had some nerves going into the sectional contest, but credited some help from his friends for allowing him to right the ship. “I was probably just nervous at the start of the game,” he said. “My teammates calmed me down and my coaches did too, so I was able to make my pitches later in the game. “My curveball was off in the beginning, but I got it together,” he added. In today's semifinal, Whitko's usual No. 1 pitcher will be on the mound in Nicodemus, although Hisner said he has two No. 1 guys, which he also had last year in Nicodemus and the graduated Alex Stoddard. “We have the luxury of having two guys, that at times, we feel can be our No. 1,” he said. “We've kind of ridden Tanner here the last half of the season, but (Ethan) is another guy we feel good about having out there.” And after a memorable game, Nicodemus is ready for the challenge of the NorthWood Panthers, who reached the semifinals by defeating Tippecanoe Valley 13-5 Thursday night. “This is definitely a huge momentum boost,” Nicodemus said. “We'll try to take some momentum into that one and try to get it done.” According to Hisner, Whitko will need the momentum as well as anything else it can muster against the defending sectional champion Panthers. “They're a good team,” he said. “(Northern Lakes Conference) champs and they put 13 up on (Tippecanoe) Valley (in Thursday's first-round game). We'll have our work cut out for us. We'll enjoy this for about 30 minutes, then we'll get right back at it. It's going to be a tough game.”
WHITKO 4, LAKELAND 3 (9 innings) L 100 101 000 – 3 8 0 W 010 000 201 – 4 8 1 Whitko – Tanner Gaff (W, 9IP, 3R, 2ER, 8H, 6K, 5BB, 1HB) and Seth Patrick. Lakeland – William Kelly (ND, 6IP, 1R, 1ER, 6H, 5K, 3BB), Dylan Pranger (7, L, 2-2/3IP, 2R, 1ER, 2H, 4K, 3BB, 1HR) and Morgan Moore, Jackson Evans (7), Moore (9). 2B – Gaff (W), Tanner Hughes (W), Derrick Dunn (L), Alexander Pearson (L). HR – Ethan Nicodemus (W). Records: Whitko 20-9, Lakeland 9-19.
