Bulldogs rally but fall short in wild regional final

Wild. The championship game of the Highland Regional could only be summed up with one word — wild.

It started with the first hitter of the game. Garrett Marti led off for the Bulldogs with a triple but was caught trying to take home a couple pitches later on a ball that got away briefly from Columbia’s catcher.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases, aided by two Columbia errors, in the second, but again could not score.

Columbia held the Bulldogs scoreless through the first five innings in a game where Highland was the visiting team, though they were playing on their home field at Glik Park.

Down 3-0 with one out in sixth, twin brothers Colten and Dylan Knebel hit back-to-back singles to get four-run rally started. The inning also included Elliott Prott being hit by a pitch, another single by Jonathan Dickman and a costly error by the Columbia second basemen that allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate.

With two away, pinch hitter Ross Spies had popped up, but the second baseman dropped the ball after appearing to lose it the sun. Two runs scored on the play to give Highland a 4-3 lead. But the wildness had just started.

Highland had a chance to add an insurance run in the top of the seventh, but Colten Knebel was thrown out at home plate trying to score on a single by Jacob Willis.

Columbia’s Dylan Hildebrand led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Two wild pitches later, his courtesy runner was standing on third base with no one out. Mitch Daniels then singled to drive home the tying run.

With runners on first and second and no one out, Columbia laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Highland countered the move by intentionally walking the next batter to load the bases with one out.

After starting the inning having thrown two balls to the backstop against the first hitter he faced, Prott, in relief of Robert Sigman, struck out the Eagles’ Drew Drabnet looking for the second out.

Then Brennen van Breusegen stepped to the plate for Columbia. Van Breusegen stroked what everyone in the park thought was a walk-off single — everyone except Highland’s right fielder, Dickman, and the base umpire, that is.

When Jordan Holmes crossed home plate with what Columbia thought was the winning run, players poured onto the field from the dugout in celebration. The Eagles on the base paths turned to get in on the party, too. However, the runner breaking from first turned to join his teammates a little prematurely. He never touched the base. Dickman ran to the infield with the ball and touched second base. The umpire singled out. Since it was a force play, the run did not count and the game continued.

But Highland could not capitalized on the reprieve.

Columbia would walk-off the Bulldogs in the bottom of the eighth on game-winning RBI single from Holmes.

Highland had made the championship game by defeating Civic Memorial 8-0 on May 23.

Highland finishes the season at 23-12.

This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Bulldogs rally but fall short in wild regional final."