Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Talawanda shocks No. 1 Hamilton in sectional semis
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The day after Hamilton was voted the No. 1 baseball team in Ohio, the Big Blue's season came to an abrupt ending.
In a major upset, Talawanda took a 5-0 lead and then held off a late Hamilton rally to eliminate the Big Blue 5-4 on Tuesday in a Division I sectional semifinal at Fairfield.
Talawanda (10-14) advances to the sectional championship game at 3 p.m. Thursday at Fairfield against Northwest, a 16-2 winner over Mount Healthy at Lakota East.
Talawanda ace Chris Gilliam (6-2) went 6ô innings and allowed four runs and six hits.
“When Chris saw Hamilton on the season schedule, he wanted to pitch against them,” Talawanda coach Greg Cawein said. “But we were in the middle of our league race, and I didn't use him and lost 8-7. He wanted to go today.”
Ronnie Bicknell picked up the save, retiring the final two batters, Terry Stone and Mike Eads.
The loss was Hamilton's fourth in the last seven games, and the Big Blue ended with a 22-5 record.
“Many of our kids play summer ball with and against the Hamilton players,” Cawein said. “In an emotional game like this, you can throw out the record books.”
The Braves scored five unearned runs in the fourth inning, taking advantage of three Hamilton errors and a single by Bryan Weiser that drove in what proved to be the winning run.
Hamilton's Seth Morris hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to set the final score.
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