Baseball: Cougars win, Lancers fall

VW independent sports

Van Wert 4 Upper Sandusky 1

UPPER SANDUSKY — No. 6 seed Van Wert captured a Division IV sectional championship with a 4-1 win over No. 5 seed Upper Sandusky on Thursday.

The win puts the Cougars (12-12) in the district semifinals against No. 1 seed Bath at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Fort Jennings.

Two of Van Wert’s runs came in the first inning. After Griffin McCracken opened the game with a single, Finley Dickinson reached first base on an error. After an out, Easton Putman singled home McCracken. Dickinson then scored on an error, the second of five committed by the Rams. In the third inning, the Cougars added a run when McCracken singled in Brayson Davis. In the fifth inning, a two out single by Alex Benner scored Putman and gave Van Wert a 4-1 lead. Upper Sandusky’s only run came in the seventh.

Conner Harris pitched 5.2 innings and allowed just three hits while striking out two and walking three. Dickinson closed out the game and gave up a hit with a pair of strikeouts and walks. McCracken had two of Van Wert’s five hits.

Coldwater 5 Lincolnview 0

COLDWATER — In a late regular season game, Coldwater scored three runs in the first inning and went on to blank Lincolnview 5-0 on Thursday.

Four Coldwater pitchers combined to hold the Lancers to three hits, and Graham Kill, Gavin Evans and Holden Price teamed up to hold Coldwater to three hits with seven strikeouts.

Coldwater’s first inning runs came on an error, a hit batsman while the bases were loaded and a bases loaded walk. The Cavaliers (20-4) then added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

The Lancers (18-6) will host Northwood in the Division VI sectional finals at 2 p.m. Saturday.