Coach remembers state championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
WASHINGTON C.H. — "They played the game the way it is supposed to be played. They did the little things right."
Former Washington Blue Lion head baseball coach Rob Smith spoke those words about his 2000 State Champion baseball team, looking back on what will be their 10-year anniversary this June.
The '00 version of the Blue Lions was led by pitching but gained hits and runs when needed. During their tournament run, the Blue Lions won each game in dramatic fashion. In postseason play, Washington won each game by three runs or less, with the state title coming with a 10-9 win over Tallmadge on June 3, 2000 at Cooper Stadium, the former home of the Columbus Clippers.
But the Blue Lions always looked to the mound to get things rolling, with three aces in senior Todd Brown and juniors Scott Lewis and Danny King. The trio had four combined no-hitters that season as the Blue Lions rolled to a 17-1 regular season, with an Buckeye Athletic Conference mark of 11-1.
The trio of starters combined for 23 of 25 starts, with Lewis finishing 9-0, compiling 137 strikeouts. Brown was 8-1 with 107 K's, while King finished 5-0 with 49 strikeouts in 25.1 innings on the mound.
Lewis not only had 100-plus strikeouts, but pitched seven complete games in 64.1 innings on the hill. The future Ohio State Buckeye and Cleveland Indian allowed just 10 runs all year, five earned, facing 228 batters. Lewis' ERA was 0.54.
Brown pitched 75.1 innings, facing 274 batters with an ERA of 1.67. King had an ERA of 0.55, facing 83 batters.
"We dominated the regular season with the pitching staff we had," Smith said. "Danny had two no-hitters and Scotty and Todd each had one. In eight games we allowed no runs, with a run of 56 straight scoreless innings."
During the aforementioned eight-game stretch the Blue Lions held Miami Trace, Jonathan Alder (twice), Madison-Plains, Grandview, Bexley, Licking Valley and West Jefferson scoreless, outscoring their opponents 70-0. For the season, Washington hit just six home runs.
"No doubt our staff was dominant. Danny was not only our No. 3 pitcher, but he was the starting catcher. He would have been an ace any other year. Against Bexley, he had 21 strikeouts. Those three would compete with each other all season to see who could get the most strikeouts."
During the regular season, Washington totaled 159 runs, while they allowed just 30. They started off the season with five straight wins over Hillsboro, MPHS, London, MTHS and WJHS. Their only loss came on April 14, 2000 to BAC opponent Lakewood, falling 4-2.
After their dominant performance in the regular season where they allowed no more than six runs in a game, with 10 shutouts, the Blue Lions started their road to Columbus with a win over Miami Trace in the sectional tournament, as the Panthers almost stopped Washington before they got started.
Smith, who was in his rookie season as varsity head coach, told The Highland County Press the sectional game against the Panthers was one of those games where either team could have been sent home in the first round.
"We played fundamental baseball and had a 6-0 lead," the current Fairborn head coach said. "We had one bad inning and (Scott) Lewis came in and shut the door on them."
That season Lewis had three relief appearances.
The year before, the Blue Lions reached the Final 4. Smith said the players left from that team knew what it took to reach that point, and what they needed to do to exceed from the previous season.
"They difference was we had three starters from the year before and I coached the rest of the players in JV that same season," said Smith. "Six of our starters on the state title team were in JV the season before. We just had a group that worked hard and showed up every day. They were a determined group."
Following the win against the Panthers were district victories against Gallia Academy and Lancaster Fairfield Union.
After stopping a MT comeback for sectional crown, the Blue Lions faced adversity vs. Gallia Academy with a 1-0 win to reach the district final where they defeated Fairfield Union 3-2.
Against GA, the score was tied at zero, and in the bottom of the seventh with Brian Yeazel on second base, senior Mark Robertson lined the ball down the field for the game-winning RBI.
"Fairfield Union was a really good team. We played at Ross County Park and were down two runs after five innings. We tied it up in the top of the sixth and went to the ninth inning.
"A kid on Fairfield Union hit the ball that would have been out of any high school park to the left field fence, but we caught it."
The win against Fairfield Union came when Yeazel, who reached second on a sacrifice bunt, scored off a hit by senior Rhett Butler.
"In that game Scotty pitched nine innings and had 18 strikeouts, but this was another game that could have gone either way."
Washington seemed to be in cruise control in the first game of the regional tournament as they led 9-0 headed into the final inning against Buckeye Local. Then the final inning almost sent the Blue Lions packing, but Washington held off the scare with fundamentals coming through when needed.
"Buckeye Local hit a grand slam and scored six runs in the top of the seventh, but to win the game Washington threw out a runner at third for the final out," Smith said.
Smith and the Blue Lions had to wait three extra days to play the Division II Regional Final game against state baseball powerhouse Steubenville due to rain, but once the game was finally played at Beavers Field in Lancaster, Washington didn't disappoint.
The regional championship victory took the Blue Lions 12 innings to capture with the game being tied 3-3 after two innings.
Then came the wait, consisting of nine straight scoreless innings.
Washington won the game when sophomore Mark Caudill hit the ball to right field to score Robertson in the bottom of the 12th. Brown pitched 10 innings, finishing with 13 strikeouts.
"This was one of the best high school games I've ever seen or been a part of," Smith said. "It was one of the games where their fans were already looking past us, saying their team was going to state. Nobody gave us a chance. It was one of those David vs. Goliath games."
With their second regional title in as many years, the Blue Lions looked to keep the momentum headed into the Final 4 with Columbus St. Charles waiting for them at Cooper Stadium.
"After another dramatic finish to get to state and they were another powerhouse. Again, people thought we had no hope of beating them," Smith said.
Washington was up 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh with runs scored in the
first and third innings.
first and third innings.
"St. Charles tied it in the seventh and then in the bottom of the ninth Tyler St. Clair knocked in (Danny) King. I was happy for Tyler because while playing third base, their student section was heckling him the whole game," Smith said.
Smith said his team was happy to reach the final game, but they knew what was at stake the following day.
"We were on cloud nine after winning the semifinal game. We were a small school and wanted to finish the deal. With Todd (Brown) on the mound, we knew we had a shot after another dramatic win. But after that win, we knew we didn't have (Scott) Lewis available to pitch."
The start of the state championship game didn't seem like the Blue Lions were going to be celebrating a few short hours later, with Tallmadge starting the game with a 4-0 lead after the top of the first inning.
"After the top of the first it looked like we were going to get our butts whipped," Smith said. "It didn't look good for us, but we came back and scored two in the bottom of the first to cut their lead in half."
Trailing 5-2 after two innings, the Blue Lions would have to battle from behind one last time to become state champions, and they did.
"We scored four runs in the bottom of the third and then went up 7-5 later in the game," Smith said. "We believed in ourselves."
Washington and Tallmadge kept the pressure on one another with the Blue Lions gaining an 8-6 advantage after five complete innings, but again, Washington gave up the lead with Tallmadge jumping ahead at 9-8.
"We brought in Danny to pitch and he had just caught 15 innings in two days," Smith said. "He came in and shut the door on their rally."
Smith said his team was fortunate to have played in close games for the entire tournament as the championship game was no different.
"Tyler hustled down first and was called safe, so we pinch hit with Kyle Ackley. So Rhett, who was our No. 9 hitter, hit the ball off the pitchers glove, giving us two runners with one out."
Smith said Robertson came up clutch for Washington in the bottom of the seventh.
"Robertson hit a single to score Kyle and tied the game. With two outs and two runners on base Tallmadge walked Scotty to load the bases and I think they probably wouldn't do that again," Smith said. "Then they pitch four straight balls to Mark (Caudill) and Rhett scores the winning run."
Ten years later Smith recalls that season with great detail.
"There are times when it seems like yesterday," he said. "I still see some of the players at times. It was a dream season. Sometimes it doesn't seem it is real. Being the only team to win a state title in Washington C.H., sometimes it is hard to fathom we are the only state champion team with some of the great teams that have been around."
Smith said some teams couldn't have won the way his team did.
"A lot of teams would have folded, and if we would have won a lot of blow out games earlier in the tournament, we could have folded too in some of the pressure situations we were in, but we had kids who wouldn't quit."
The state title is something Smith said he and his team can always look back on with great pride.
"They can always cherish this," he said. "They made the community proud, and nobody can ever take it back. We earned the title the right way and worked for everything we got."
Members of the 2000 team included: seniors: Shane Hurtt, Todd Brown, Brian Yeazel, Wes Dawes, Mark Robertson, Rhett Butler; juniors: Tyler St. Clair, Scott Lewis, Danny King; sophomores: Kyle Ackley, Mark Caudill, Adam Conner, Cameron Quigley and freshman Tim Wightman. Assistant coaches were Randy Welsh and Ernie Jackson. Head coach was Rob Smith.
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