Mason battles back, then falls to Moeller

Moeller baseball coach Tim Held has been hearing the rumblings from outsiders that this year's team isn't quite as powerful or potent as other teams in recent history. Saturday night in the Region 4 finals the Crusaders proved that they've still got it as they pounded out 10 hits and were benefited by two errors to win 4-3 over the Comets in a wild game at Marge Schott Stadium.

For the second straight night, junior Joe Vranesic came through in the clutch for the Crusaders and sparked the offense. After blasting a two RBI double in Friday night's regional semifinals win over Beavercreek, Vranesic came through with a single to left to break a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning Friday night against Mason, got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth to bring home the game winning run and picked up the save on the mound with a spotless ninth to make the lead stand-up, as Moeller captured its third straight regional title and 11th in school history.

"With this group it has been different. Everybody is expecting us to score 10 runs," Held said. "We didn't have some opponents this year where we would score a lot. We played the GCL-South teams three more times. People are looking at our numbers and saying that we're not the same old Moeller, but I think banging out 10 hits against those three pitchers proves that it's all there. We get one more hit and we've got five, six or seven runs. We were that close to putting a bunch up."

Mason threw Chris Martin, a Kent State commit, for the first 3 2/3 innings, Andy Marzheuser, a junior getting Division I looks, for 2 1/3, and Rodney Hutchison, a North Carolina recruit, for 3 innings.

Moeller led from the fourth inning until the bottom of the seventh when Mason was down to its final three outs. A costly error by the Crusaders allowed the game to continue. With runners on second and third after back-to-back two-out singles by Chris Martin and TJ Dunn, Andy Marzheuser's groundball was booted and rolled into the outfield, allowing both runners to score and tie the game. Hutchison nearly brought home the game-winning run with a single to left field, but a nice throw and tag from leftfielder Kyle Butz to catcher Bailey Montoya sent the game into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth, second baseman Josh Hollander started the ninth by reaching on an error, and then Zach Logue walked. A sacrifice bunt by Bryan Soth moved them both over and then Butz was walked to load the bases for Vranesic. Mason pitcher Rodney Hutchison, who picked up the win in Friday night's game against Troy in a complete game effort, hit him to bring in the go-ahead run.

Vranesic, who is second on the team in RBI for the season, said he felt that the team needed a pick-me-up and he was happy to be able to come through a few different times this weekend to give his teammates that lift.

"It's not usually not my role to get the guys going and focused, but the last two games I felt like we needed something, especially last night because that was a huge double," said Vranesic. "It's nice to be that kid on that team who can come up with the big hit."

For the first three innings, both starters, Martin for Mason and Nick Voss for Moeller, spent their time dodging trouble.

Moeller nearly pushed a run across in the first when leadoff batter Riley Mahan singled and then moved around to third with two outs, but a nice defensive play by Mason shortstop Connor Bryan, who ranged behind the bag to make the scoop and then fired a rope to first, got the Comets out of the inning.

Voss had to get out of his own trouble in the bottom of the first inning when he hit the leadoff batter, Bryan, and an out later centerfielder TJ Dunn singled into left field. He buckled down and got a strikeout and an infield pop-up from Mason's four- and five-hole hitters to put out the threat.

Bryan helped Mason dodge another bullet in the top of the third. After leadoff batter Cole Proia reached on a walk and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Bailey Montoya and third on a wild pitch, Bryan cut him down at home with a nice charging scoop and throw to catcher Joey Thomas, who applied the tag.

The top of the fourth inning, the first where either team got the leadoff batter out, proved to be problematic for the Comets. Bryan Soth had a one-out single up the middle to start the rally, and then Butz followed with a single into left field. That brought Vranesic to the plate. His second big RBI hit to left field in as many nights broke the scoreless tie. The Crusaders scored a second run in the inning when the Comets tried to turn a double play on Joey Ludwig's groundball. The throw to first bounced away allowing Butz to score from third to make it 2-0.

Tyler Krabbe answered for Mason in the bottom half of the inning when he drove Voss' 3-0 pitch over the left field wall to halve the Crusaders' lead.

Moeller added what proved to be an important insurance run in the sixth. Soth reached on a leadoff single, advanced to second on a bunt single by Butz and came home on a two-out RBI single up the middle by Proia to make it 3-1. That set the stage for Mason's dramatic seventh inning comeback.

Moeller will face Massillon Jackson on Friday at 1 pm at Huntington Park in Columbus. Even though it's the Crusaders' third straight trip to the final four, Vranesic said the team doesn't take winning a regional title for granted.

"We just take it one game at a time," said Vranesic. "Each game it's our goal to win. We don't look too far into the future, so we'll definitely celebrate this one tonight."

WP:Bennett (4-2). LP: Hutchison (8-3). S: Vranesic (3). HITTING LEADERS: MOE-Soth 2-4; Butz 2-3,

Proia 2-4, 2 RBI. MAS-Dunn 2-4. Records: MOE 25-4, MAS 25-6.