Trieg Matthews pitched a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, and Gavin Byrd brought home the game-winning run to lift the Thunderhawks past Greater Miami Conference rival Hamilton 2-1 in a Division I district semifinal on Tuesday.
“We’ve been like that all year,” said Rindfleisch, a 2013 Lakota East graduate hired to lead the program this past offseason. “Our record doesn’t show it, but we really haven’t not responded in those situations.
“It’s just been us kicking ourselves in the foot, which we didn’t do today.”
The Thunderhawks (17-11), who beat the Big Blue in both meetings during the regular season, face Springboro in a district final at 5 p.m. Thursday at Indian Hill.
“We’ve been responding all year,” Rindfleisch said. “You can go back to game one against Moeller — it was back and forth, back and forth. They threw the last punch.”
The Thunderhawks threw the last one on Tuesday.
With the game tied at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Hamilton starter Peyton Davis retired the first two Lakota East batters.
Carter Egloff singled, Carson Shroyer walked and Brody Gilligan walked to load the bases for the Thunderhawks. That’s when Byrd hit a grounder to Big Blue shortstop Blake Sams, who couldn’t field it cleanly — which allowed pinch runner Grady Thrash to score the game winner.
“I was just doing anything to give my best at-bat to the team,” Byrd said.
Both starting pitchers — Lakota East’s Matthews and Hamilton’s Davis — went toe-to-toe on the mound.
Matthews tossed six innings without allowing a run before Noah Milburn and Byrd came in on relief in the top of the seventh.
“This has been a big year for (Matthews) maturity-wise — making the move over from Fenwick,” Rindfleisch said. “Struggled emotionally when failure hit. Gets in trouble today three times and bulldogged through it. Huge moment for him to get the ball, not worry about what’s going on, and that just shows his growth from Moeller all the way to here. Super proud of him.”
“I felt good through it all,” Matthews said. “I could have gone a seventh, but I let my guys do the work. I knew they were going to get something done. When Gavin came up to hit with bases loaded, that’s just what he does.”
Davis went the distance, gave up just four hits and didn’t allow an earned run.
“I went out there to give (Davis) a break, and I’m like, ‘How do you feel?’” Sams said. “There’s no way he wanted to come out in that situation. Two unearned runs, that’s a tough way to go out as a senior when he pitched his ass off today.”
Byrd reached on an error by Blake Sams at shortstop to start the bottom of the fourth. Byrd eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Jude McCullough to give Lakota East a 1-0 lead.
Hamilton sophomore Noah Davidson went 2-for-4, including an RBI single in the top of the seventh that tied it at 1-1.
The Thunderhawks won it on Byrd’s two-out grounder that got away from Blake Sams.
“We’re pitching and defense-heavy,” Josh Sams said. “I think we’ve taken a million ground balls over, and I trust Blake. He makes that play all the time, and for whatever reason, it didn’t line up for him today.”
Josh Sams said the Big Blue (13-14) didn’t necessarily struggle getting runners on base during the season. It was bringing them across the plate that posed the issue.
“That’s been our Achilles heel all year,” the coach said. “I think we were coming at 191 into that game, and if we left 10 more on, that’s 200 guys we left on base.
“We did a good job of getting them on, and we just could not get the big hit all year. We left bases loaded, we had a runner on third, nobody out — it just stings.”
Hamilton graduates Chad Taylor, Landon Ledford, Noah Iglesia, Tommy Schuster, Caleb Warner, Kaleb Powers, William Creach and Peyton Davis.
“They meant a lot to the program,” Josh Sams said. “They did a lot of things the right way. A lot of them fought their ass off today. To go home with that on you is a tough way to go. But they really meant a lot to the program, and I think they put us in a good position.”
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