Columbus pitcher Colin Flyr shut the Blair baseball team down for six innings Saturday at Vets Field.
The Bears went scoreless for 18 outs, but the Discoverers never got to 21. After Nolan Osterhaus pushed across the first run for coach John Roan's team, Shea Wendt plated the rest with a walk-off grand slam over the outfield fence.
The wild, 5-4 win improved BHS' season record to 3-8, while Columbus fell to 5-6.
“I'll tell you what, a lot wasn't going our way the whole game,” Roan said. “However, those boys stayed the course and kept fighting. It was an incredible team effort.”
Dex Larsen, Kaden Fletcher, Dylan Swanson and Osterhaus scored the runs Blair needed to tie Saturday's game before the home run hero trotted from first to second base and then then to third, slapping hands with Roan on his way home where his jubilant teammates waited. Wendt, who hit a homer last month in the season opener, was just 1-for-4 against Columbus, but one swing won the game.
“Shea is a great talent,” his coach said. “He kept grinding the whole game and it paid off at the end.”
The Bears arrived at the bottom of the seventh inning within striking distance thanks to the work of Tyler Andersen, Saturday's winning pitcher. He allowed four earned runs over seven innings, but surrendered just six total hits and one walk. The hurler struck out three Discoverers, too.
“Just a very good team win that we can build off and move forward with,” Roan said.
No. 1 Norris tops BHS
A day earlier, Kale Fountain and Eaden Holt hit home runs Friday as No. 1 Norris displayed its offensive prowess at Vets Field. The Titans (8-2 overall) notched 18 runs on 22 hits, besting BHS 18-6 in 5 innings.
Fountain, a freshman Florida State commit, hit the first homer, helping the visiting team to a 3-0 lead through the top half of the first inning.
Bears freshman J'shawn Unger had an answer.
After Wendt hit a two-out double off of Nebraska recruit CJ Hood, and Cade Ulven walked on four pitches, the infielder hammered the ball over the left field fence to tie the game. He celebrated his way to home plate where he was met by his BHS teammates.
From there, though, Norris dominated. Holt's dinger started the productive four-inning stretch that, ultimately, ended the game by run rule. The Titans scored twice during the second inning, eight times in the third, two more in the fourth and, finally, three times during the fifth frame.
Blair, meanwhile, scored its fourth and fifth runs during the fourth inning. Both Wendt and Ulven drew bases-loaded walks, pulling the Bears within 15-5.
Canton Lippincott then added a fifth inning RBI single, but it was too little too late as coach Roan's team lost by 12 runs. Larsen, Conner O'Neil and Unger pitched during the game for BHS with Larsen striking out three Titans.
Bears drop road game 8-4
Blair made a late push Thursday at Class B No. 7 Waverly, but the Vikings won 8-4.
The Bears trailed 7-0 before RBIs by Osterhaus, Morgan Rump and O'Neil, but their efforts weren't enough against the Vikings. Brady Brown and Osterhaus tallied two hits apiece as well, while O'Neil (double) and Unger (triple) notched extra-base knocks.
Ulven and Swanson combined for three strikeouts from the pitching mound.
