CINCINNATI — Dylan Rieck was supposed to put down a bunt to move some runners into scoring position.
But the Lakota East senior attempted with no luck.
“As soon as I got down two strikes, I knew I still had to do something for the team,” Rieck said. “So, I just got up there, got relaxed — and whatever the pitcher threw at me, I had to do some damage.”
The damage was soon to be done.
Rieck crushed a three-run homer to break open a 2-2 tie and help lead the Thunderhawks to a 6-3 victory over the Turpin Spartans in a Division I district semifinal on Tuesday night.
“With Dylan, we had him bunting the first two pitches,” Lakota East coach Ray Hamilton said. “We had to let him swing away at that point. Then he hits a bomb.”
The Thunderhawks (19-9) have won seven of their last eight and play top-ranked Moeller on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Princeton in a district final.
Lakota East has knocked Turpin out of the tournament each of the last three seasons.
“We just play as a team day in and day out,” Rieck said. “That’s all we care about is the team. We don’t talk about stats in the dugout, outside the dugout. All we care about is winning as a team. That’s the biggest thing for Lakota East baseball.
“The vibe has been immaculate, to be honest with you. Day in and day out, practice and games, it doesn’t matter. We’re always looking to get better. When we get better during practice and put runs across the plate and pitching does good, we win ballgames.”
Lakota East senior ace Dean Brown went 5 2/3 innings, struck out six and gave up one earned run on six hits.
“At the beginning, it wasn’t like if I tried to throw hard, I couldn’t really throw strikes. I was just in my head a little bit,” Brown said. “I was a little nervous for the game. But I dialed it in. My arm started to feel a little bit more loose. My strike ratio percentage was going up. Curve ball started working, slider started working better — it just started to come together.”
Brayden Reinhart and Gavin Byrd each went 2 for 4 for the Thunderhawks. Rieck finished with four RBIs, while Matt Herr had a hit and scored a run.
Turpin (19-10) grabbed two runs in the bottom of the second due in part to a couple infield errors. Both runs were scored with two outs.
“We made some mistakes early,” Hamilton said. “I thought we contributed a little bit to those first two runs. We kind of settled down.”
Lakota East tied it up at 2-2 in the top of the third when Donovan Corbett scored, and Herr came across the plate on Cooper Helton’s sacrifice fly to left.
Brown kept the Spartans in check through the fifth, and Rieck blasted his three-run homer that broke the game open in the top of the sixth.
“I honestly had to be held back from going out there,” Brown said of Rieck’s first home run of the season. “It was a miracle. Every time he goes up to bat, it could happen at any time for Dylan. Seeing that was one of the best moments of my entire life.”
Logan Cole came in to relieve Brown in the bottom of the sixth to end a Turpin threat that only resulted in one run. Lakota East got a utility run in the top of the seventh before Cole closed it out in the bottom half.
“Tomorrow, we get to practice another day,” Rieck said. “We’ve just got to make sure that we work on the fundamentals and make sure we keep it clean — because we can’t beat Moeller by making any type of errors or silly mistakes on the bases. We’ve just got to bare down and show Moeller what we’ve got.”
MOELLER 5, HAMILTON 0
David Hagen tossed a perfect game and had 11 strikeouts as top-ranked Moeller defeated Hamilton on Tuesday night at Kremcheck Stadium in Miamiville.
Clint Moak went 4 2/3 innings on the mound for the Big Blue, who finished the season at 16-14. Peyton Davis came in on relief to finish it out.
Hamilton graduates Nick Brosius, Cournell Bennett-McCoy, Clint Moak, Elijah Jackson, Conner Bowling, Bryce Sams and David Johnson.
LOVELAND 6, LAKOTA WEST 5
Loveland tallied six runs in the third inning to erase a five-run deficit and beat Lakota West in a Division I district semifinal on Tuesday night.
The Firebirds (15-13) scored five runs in the first inning, which was highlighted by Adrian Smith’s two-RBI double. Noah Bramble went 2 for 4 with a run to pace Lakota West at the plate.
LJ Green got the start for the Firebirds, going 2 2/3 innings while giving up five runs on six hits and three walks. Keegan Campbell came in on relief and went 3 1/3 innings.
Lakota West graduates Brennan Remy, Jacob Stauffer, Jacob Asbeck, Kyle Binder and Cooper Taylor.
BADIN 7, WYOMING 0
Chase Luebbe went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Caleb Driessen pitched a one-hit complete-game shutout and sixth-ranked Badin beat Wyoming in a Division II district semifinal on Tuesday night at Alumni Field.
The Rams (23-6) face Tippecanoe on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Dixie in a district final.
Austin Buckle (2 for 4, run), Cooper Ollis (2 for 2, two RBI, two runs) and Austin Vangen (two walks, two runs) contributed offensively for Badin, which tallied four runs in the second, one in the fourth and two in the sixth.
