RICHMOND — The Buckeye Local baseball team responded in a big way against Barnesville.

Buckeye Local — the No. 11 seed — led No. 9 seed Barnesville by four runs through two innings, however, the Shamrocks rose to the occasion, rallied and tied the scoring going into the fifth. Undeterred, the Panthers answered right back with a run in the top of the fifth and another in the sixth en route to a 7-5 victory in an Ohio Division V Eastern District Sectional Co-Final on a rainy Thursday evening out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

“It’s the first one since I have been here,” Buckeye Local (10-15) Jeffrey Patrick said about winning the sectional title. I don’t know how long it has been since we have won one. I know it was before COVID.

“This is really big for our seniors. They have worked really hard. Six of our seniors got to play today.”

Barnesville fell behind early but battled back to tie it before Buckeye Local regrouped and scored two more runs on their way to winning the game.

“It’s the story of our season,” Barnesville (14-12) head coach D.J. Butler said. “We left plays out on the field. We dug ourselves a hole, and we weren’t able to do what we like to do – run, move base runners, bunt. This is 1,000 percent on me today along with all the number of times we fell short this season.”

With the win, Buckeye Local will now play the winner of the game between No. 5 seed River View and No. 10 Tuscarawas Valley at 5 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be announced. The sectional co-final between the Black Bears and the Trojans was rained out Thursday, and the game has been moved to 5 p.m. today at River View.

“They were rained out today, so we will be able to go watch them play,” Patrick said.

The Panthers produced a run in the first to take an early 1-0 lead, however, the boys in green answered right back in the home half of the inning to tie the score at 1. Buckeye Local came right back and scored four runs in the second to build a 5-1 advantage. The boys from Belmont County collected two runs in the third to cut their deficit down to 5-3 before scoring a pair of runs in the fourth to knot the score at 5-all.

“We have done that all season,” Butler said. “We got into a hole and fought back. Sometimes, we were able to come back and win the game. We weren’t able to do that today.”

The boys from Jefferson County countered with a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to regain the lead at 6-5 before tacking on an insurance run in the sixth on a groundout to increase their advantage to two runs.

“Something happened a couple of weeks ago, and things just started to click,” Patrick. “Our energy was better, our swings were better and our approaches were better. We played well today. They did a good job.”

The Panthers used two pitchers in the game. Kaleb Stang started, and he ended up with a no-decision. Stang pitched three innings. He struck out two and walked five. Dominic Kempton, who started the game at first base, replaced Stang, and Kempton picked up the win. Kempton struck out six and walked three in his four innings of relief work on the mound.

Dylan Blon went the distance and took the loss for Barnesville. He struck out six while walking two.

The victors doubled up the opposition, 8-4, in the hit department. The Panthers produced a pair of extra-base hits, while all four of the hits by the Shamrocks were singles.

For Buckeye Local, Wyatt Luyster tallied two singles, a double and an RBI, Hadyn Boyce contributed a single, a double and an RBI and Jordan Kovaleski collected two singles and an RBI. Also, catcher Alex McDiffit delivered a base hit, while Hayden Cihon, Grant Dombroski and Stang all added an RBI.

Kovaleski singled home Luyster to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first. Luyster singled with two outs, and Stang reached when he was hit by a pitch. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Luyster scored on the single while Stang was thrown out on the plate.

The Shamrocks scored a run on a bases-loaded walk in the home half of the first to even the score at 1.

The Panthers regained the lead with a four-run second. Dombrowski picked up an RBI when he reached on an error, and later in the inning, Boyce and Luyster recorded back-to-back RBI singles.

Barnesville tallied two runs in the third and two in the fourth to rally and tie the score. In those two innings, Peter Sobutka singled home a run, Marshall Meade added an RBI when he was hit by a pitch, a run scored on an error and another scored on a balk.

The Shamrocks had the momentum, but the Panthers were able to turn the tide back in their favor in the next at-bat.

“The biggest change this season was the kids came together,” Patrick said. “At the beginning of the season, they were not sure, but they came up big today when we needed it. The kids never lost their focus. They did a good job.”