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Ferry can’t solve Hiland in regional

MINERVA — Quite simply, all Martins Ferry head coach Anthony Reasbeck could do was tip his cap.

After watching the Purple Riders’ season come to a screeching halt, at the hands of Hiland, 10-0, in six innings Friday afternoon in the Division III regional tournament at Minvera’s Carl Michael Field, Reasbeck wasn’t mad or even disappointed in the effort his players put forth.

They simply got beat by a better team. Actually, the Riders (17-13) got beat by a team that Reasbeck believes is “the best team in the state of Ohio, regardless of division.”

“I am going to bet on Hiland (against any other team in Ohio),” Reasbeck said. “Baseball is what they do. It’s their thing. We’re a bunch of athletes who play baseball. They are straight baseball players and it showed today. If they don’t win the state championship, I want to see the team that does.”

Hiland, which is now 29-0, will go after its second consecutive berth in the OHSAA State Baseball Tournament today at 1 against Wheelersburg at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus.

While the Hawks are playing today, the Purple Riders are bidding farewell to their seniors, but certainly not to the memories that the school’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1976 yielded.

“No knock on our guys cause they’ve had a hell of a year, but that team we played is (really) good,” Reasbeck said. ”

Ferry’s senior class, which will collect its diplomas on Sunday, was comprised of Taylor Fogle, Conner Pollock, Dom Wallace, Corey Miklas, Kyle Anderson and Cade Lloyd.

“It stings now, but it will sting worse if we have to wait another 41 years before we get here again,” Reasbeck said. “This means nothing unless it’s built upon. We have a lot of young guys and if they don’t build upon it, it was a waste. It’s definitely not a waste for those seniors, but if we can build on it … then great. We saw what a state championship team looks like.”

All week Reasbeck and his coaching staff stressed the importance of being able to strike early against Hiland, which opted to throw Braden Mast.

The Purple Riders had their chance to do just that, too. Drake Dobson drew a one-out walk and freshman Jacob Probst singled, putting runners on first and second.

Mast got a strikeout and then was bailed out by talented right fielder Mitch Massaro, who robbed Lloyd of a RBI hit when he made a shoe-string catch of a sinking liner.

“Against a team like Hiland, you have to get on the board early,” Reasbeck said. “Once they steal all of the momentum, it’s over. They play defense like no high school baseball team should play defense. We barreled the ball and it was a double play.”

With some of the wind out of the Riders’ sail early, the Hawks flexed their offensive muscle against Purple Riders’ junior ace Austin Bassa. Senior shortstop Chris Kline led off the game with a lined single. He promptly stole second and was driven home by second baseman Tyson Gingerich with the first of his four singles into left.

Gingerich later scored with two outs on a hit by Andy Miller.

The Hawks didn’t slow down either. They added two unearned runs in the second and then blew it open with a three spot in the fifth and capped with the final three runs in the sixth. Miller had a two-run double down the right-field line in the fifth and Ryan Hershberger had a two-run single in the sixth.

“When there’s blood in the water and we’re on, we’re able to capitalize,” Hiland head coach Tom Gibson said. “Ferry’s pitcher is good, but we just hit him today. You give us a couple of errors and we usually take advantage. Plus, we felt like we could run today. This turf played right for us with our team speed.”

Ferry had a handful of opportunities. Cory Bennett — the junior left fielder — led off the third with a double, but he got no further than third as Mast got a backward K to thwart the rally.

In both the fifth and sixth innings, Ferry got runners aboard, but the Hawks turned a nifty double play in each inning.

“We had some chances,” Reasbeck said. “When they play defense like they did tonight, good luck scoring on them. When this happens, you just move on.”

Bassa suffered his first loss since the latter portion of April. He struck out four. His head coach had no qualms with his outing.

“Austin’s the man,” Reasbeck said. “He ran into the state champs and when you run into them, it’s tough. They’re going to win the state again and be back-to-back state champs. You’re going to have to play every play and they make is to tough on you because they know what they’re doing.”

Bennett led the Riders with two hits.

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