Prep baseball: Ross blanks Franklin to reach regional final

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And the Rams did with a 2-0 victory over Franklin following defeats in this round the past two years. The next piece of history the Rams want is a victory in Sunday’s noon final against defending state champion Chaminade Julienne or Granville. That would send the Rams to next week’s state semifinals in Akron for the first time.

“This team believes as a whole,” said first-year head coach Ben Toerner who has been on the Ross staff for six years. “Every single guy whether it’s Schroeder out there throwing it or the sophomore down there catching bullpens, everybody believes. And it runs through this dugout.”

That belief was tested in the fourth inning. The Rams (24-5) led 1-0 when Drew Gescuk and Gunner Lakins led off with singles before an error loaded the bases with no outs. Schroeder got a ground ball back to the mound and a force out at home and a strikeout. Then Cooper Daniels hit a slow roller, but shortstop Ryan Merkle charged hard and fired to first to end the inning.

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“That’s a backbreaker,” said Franklin coach Kyle Wainscott, whose young team finished 25-7. “We just couldn’t get that big hit. That pitcher had good stuff, and he had funky arm action and a lot of breaking ball stuff.”

Toerner felt the heat of the situation, but he had confidence in Schroeder.

“I’m not going to say we felt totally confident, but if anybody was going to be out there it was going to be Schroeder,” Toerner said. “So we felt good there.”

Schroeder (6-2) limited the Wildcats to four hits and a walk and struck out 11. The senior struck out three Wildcats in the seventh with his slider. That pitch and his curveball kept the Wildcats guessing. But it was the slider Schroeder leaned on the most.

“I got a lot of swing and misses when I was throwing it outside,” he said. “That was probably my best pitch today.”

Ross rallied for both its runs with two outs against Tytus Tussey. In the third, Ethan Hall singled and scored on a single by Cooper Shields. Hall was stealing on the hit to left and came to third. The throw was over the third baseman’s head and went into the dugout allowing Hall to score. In the fourth, Eric Guckiean doubled and Ethan Mills singled in pinch runner Ethan Gerhardt.

“We gave them their first run by just not being fundamentally sound,” Wainscott said. “Tytus Tussey pitched well enough for us to win — four hits. You get that you’ve got to get some run support.”