Jun. 5—HAMLER — Tyler Sickmiller was Tyler Sickmiller and Landon Price was Landon Price on Friday.
And those are two big reasons Leipsic and Lincolnview will be playing for a trip to the Division IV state baseball tournament this afternoon.
Sickmiller, a senior right-hander for Leipsic, and Price, a junior left-hander for Lincolnview, delivered the kind of performances they’ve become known for when the Vikings beat Sycamore Mohawk 5-0 and the Lancers won 7-2 over Antwerp in the semifinals of the regional at Patrick Henry on Friday.
Sickmiller allowed a single to Mohawk’s leadoff hitter, Taylor Hayman, to start the game, then retired the next 21 batters for an almost perfect game. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
Price had a perfect game for 5 1/3 innings before giving up a single to Antwerp’s Ethan Lichty. He finished with a four-hitter, struck out 13 and did not walk anyone.
“Ty was Ty. That’s just what he does. He keeps them off balance. He mixed it up, changed speeds, hit his spots,” Leipsic coach Darren Henry said. “He only had 60-some pitches. That’s what he does.”
Antwerp’s hitters appeared surprised by how often Sickmiller, who hasn’t allowed a run in a tournament game this spring, used his curveball. And maybe there was a good reason for that.
Sickmiller said he threw curves a lot more than he usually does.
“I don’t throw curveballs too much but today I did. I was told the game plan was they can hit fastballs so don’t throw a fastball to them,” he said.
Leipsic (25-6) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Quin Schroeder walked, stole second base, moved to third on a ground out and scored on another ground out by Sickmiller.
The Vikings took control of the game with four runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Mason Brandt led off the inning with a single to rightfield, Drew Liffick bunted for a hit and Kaleb Gillespie’s bunt was mishandled to load the bases.
Leadoff hitter Quin Schroeder followed with a squeeze bunt to put Leipsic up 2-0. Trey Schroeder drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0. Lorenzo Walther’s single gave Leipsic a 4-0 lead and a ground out by Jeremy Tavares raised the lead to 5-0.
“It just kind of worked out. I wasn’t really comfortable with the swings we were getting so I just felt, ‘Let’s give it a shot,’ ” Henry said about calling for three straight bunts. “We got down some great bunts.”
Lincolnview (22-8) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Price reached on an error, Colin Overholt bunted for a single, the two runners did a double steal and Price scored on a ground out by Dane Ebel.
The Lancers scored four more runs in the second inning with a rally that started with two out when Clayton Leeth singled and Creed Jessee walked. Price had a run-scoring single, Overholt singled to score a run and Ebel had a two-run double.
When Lincolnview scored two more runs in the fourth inning to go ahead 7-0 it had a lead that was bigger than the number of runs Price had given up all season going into the game (six).
But there was no relaxing at that point, Lincolnview coach Eric Fishpaw said.
“No lead is safe, especially in this game. There is no clock, there is no running out the game or anything like that. We just preach every inning and the whole game to keep your foot on the gas pedal,” he said.
Overholt was 3 for 4 with a triple and two singles to lead Lincolnview’s offense. As the Lancers’ catcher, he also got a good view of what Price was doing.
“He’s always on point, he always throws that good. He comes out and throws like that every night,” he said.
Overholt says with several seniors in the lineup Lincolnview had a goal of going far in the tournament this year.
“The past couple years we’ve had a good team and we’ve fallen short earlier in the tournament. So this has always been a goal. This is several of our senior seasons and we want to come out and compete to the best of our ability and go as far as we can.”
Lincolnview’s most recent trip to a state baseball tournament was in 1974. It won the 1962 Class A title. Leipsic last appeared in the state tournament 45 years ago when it won the 1976 small school championship.