Close wins key to WBL co-championship

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

For the second time in two seasons played, the Van Wert Cougars are Western Buckeye League baseball co-champions, but it didn’t come easy this time around.

The state-ranked Cougars (No. 15, Division II, 21-5, 8-1 WBL) clinched a title share by defeating Kenton 1-0 on Saturday, the sixth one-run WBL victory of the season for Van Wert. Overall, the team enjoyed 10 one-run wins.

Van Wert also shared the title with Defiance in 2019 but the 2020 season was wiped out by COVID-19.

“I believe it is a tremendous accomplishment for our program and really highlights how far our program has come in the fact that we have won back-to-back championships with almost two completely different groups of players,” head coach Charlie Witten said. “I believe it also speaks volumes about the guys who have been involved with both championships. That starts with Owen Treece who is a combined 16-1 as a pitcher over these two championship years. Owen has always been a kid who leads by example, but the growth he has demonstrated as a positive vocal leader of our team has been fun to watch as a coach.”

“The other men who have been around for both championships are Jeremy Kitson and Eric Putman (assistant varsity coaches), Jim Werts (junior varsity coach) and Cole Harting (freshman coach),” Witten continued. “These guys do a lot of work behind the scenes and get very little credit – the majority of these players on this year’s championship team played under coach Werts and coach Harting two years ago. Coach Kitson and Putman have developed great relationships with our players and help out any way they can.”

Witten also praised the seven seniors on the team and noted each one has been important to the team’s success but he added some of the underclassmen have been key players as well.

“In high school athletics, your seniors are so critical,” Witten stated. “They help establish good work habits and set an example for others to look up to. From our seniors who have played a lot – Owen Treece, Jacob Place, and Ries Wise – to those who have been role players – Levi Eddins, Quinton Craig and Blaze Bolenbaugh – to Josh Halker who has been injured, each one of our seniors has played an important role in our success this year.”

“Levi Eddins and Quinton Craig deserve some special recognition here, becuase they have been so good in their roles on the team. Levi especially has done a great job communicating with teammates during certain situations – whether it is something he sees on the field or a word of encouragement to pick a teammate up.”

“As far as pleasant surprises for this year — I wouldn’t call any one of these guys a surprise as to how they have performed because we had high expectations for them coming into the year, but Luke Wessell, Kaiden Bates and Aidan Pratt were all players that we knew would have to come through with good seasons for us in order for our team to be as successful as we possibly could – and they have all come through for us consistently throughout the year.”

Witten had two main concerns entering the season – pitching depth and defense. He added his fears about depth on the mound were addressed early on, but he said he’s hopeful the Cougars can cut down on errors at tournament time.

“Our pitching depth took a hit early in the season when Josh Halker injured his knee – he has been unable to play since week 2 of the season,” Witten explained. “However, Luke Wessell (7-0, 1.62 ERA) has earned the spot as our No. 2 pitcher this year and was the winning pitcher in three of our WBL games. Ethan Rupert (4-4, 3.50 ERA) has served as our No. 3 pitcher this year, which means he has pitched against a lot of our good non-conference opponents. Then we have had guys like Aidan Pratt (1.0, 10.1 innings pitched) and Turner Witten (1-0) who have picked up wins on the mound in some early games this year.”

“The defense is still a work in progress this year. We’ve had games where we have played very good defense – games where we have made diving catches, thrown runners out at the plate, and just simply made good fundamental plays. We have also had games where we have made too many errors, which have cost us in several of our losses.”

As far as a number of close games, Witten said it was something the Cougars became accustomed to throughout the season and he believes it could benefit the team during the postseason.

“Eight of our nine WBL games were decided by one or two runs,” Witten said. “In comparison, only four of our WBL games in 2019 were decided by one or two runs. I believe the depth of our team is the biggest reason why we have been so successful in close games this year. We have eight players hitting between .316 -.349 in our lineup, so teams are not able to focus on one hitter. If one guy doesn’t get the job done, we have another guy just as capable of getting the job done right behind him.”

“As we met as a team when we got home from Kenton Saturday, we talked about each of our WBL games. I believe I mentioned 11-12 players on our team who had big plays that were a major reason why we won eight WBL games. We’ve also had four walk off wins this year, which is easily more than we have had in any other year that I have coached.

“Again, we have had different players contribute to those – Turner Witten has two walk off hits this year, Ethan Rupert has one and the combination of Kaiden Bates and TJ Stoller helped provide a walk off win against Lima Shawnee.”

“I do believe the success we have had in close games this year will help us out as we start tournament play this week. Each tournament game we will face a good pitcher, which most likely means runs will be at a premium.”

The No. 2 seed Cougars will host No. 5 seed Ottawa-Glandorf in the Division II sectional finals this Friday, with the winners advancing to next week’s district to face Toledo Central Catholic or Napoleon.

“Tournament baseball in northwest Ohio is never easy and that is definitely the case in our district,” Witten said.