Lamar Christian earned its first playoff series victory since the founding of the school in 1998.
Austin Esser threw a no-hitter and had nine strikeouts in the Lions' 13-0 run-rule win against Christian Collegiate Academy.
The Lions combined to outscore the Bulldogs 25-0 in the series sweep.
“Everything's coming together for us right now,” Lamar Christian head coach Jason Oxenrider said. “We are playing better defense and our hitting really improved. Our pitching has been there for us all season, and our guys know we can’t take any at-bat for granted and no plays off. I think we have gotten more mentally tough as the season has progressed and that’s helped us out the most.”
The Lions took in the first inning, as Colter Durfield stole home on a wild pitch. During the same at-bat, Maddox Rymes came up with a 2-run RBI double to center field, driving in TJ Davis and Jude Baxter.
Two batters later Rymes and Kaleb Hodge scored on back-to-back wild pitches. The Lions scored three more runs in the inning, as Rayce Dearmen stole home on a wild pitch and Esser hit an RBI single. Durfield finished off the scoring rally for the Lions as he scored on a ball by Christian Collegiate’s pitcher Aaron Prestwood, allowing him to go home and take the early 8-0 lead.
“Our plan was to be aggressive early,” Oxenrider said. “He (Nottingham) struggled early throwing early and we knew we had some chances to steal on them so I sent our stronger base runners pretty often.”
In the top of the second inning, Esser allowed the only base runner of the game for the Bulldogs by hitting right fielder Daniel Robles. He quickly recovered and stuck out the next three batters in order to get out of the inning.
“He (Esser) did what we needed him to do today,” Oxenrider said. “He came out early and through a lot of strikes right out of the gate and kept that attack going. I give our pitchers a lot of credit. They pitched well and we got the win.”
On the season Esser has pitched 27.2 innings with 37 strikeouts to just 31 runs given up. He holds a 4.30 era on the season.
The Lions maintained the momentum in the bottom of the third inning providing four more runs, as Dearman started off the rally by Josiah Colwell scoring on a wild pitch. During the same at-bat, Ethan Williamson hit a line drive to left field driving in Dorgan.
Davis followed the single with a double of his own to left field driving in Williamson from second base after stealing. Baxter finished the Lions' scoring by hitting a ground ball to Colwell that he did not field cleanly for an error and courtesy runner Chad Anderson scored on the play.
Esser sat down the final three batters in order forcing Colwell to hit a fly out to left field and struck out the final two batters sealing the run-rule victory.
Lamar Christian will face Canton Academy in the second round of the MAIS 4A playoffs.
“Going into this next playoff series we have to play a lot better than we did this week,” Oxenrider said. “I know the score of this series may not have reflected that but we have a lot to improve on and they are a very talented team. They won District 3 and have 19 wins on the season, so we will have to play really well to win.”
