University vs. Louisville baseball: Preppers shut down by Leopards' Andrew Warner
Jun. 2—CANTON — You know it's not going to be your day when the hardest ball you hit doesn't even go 60 feet — and it was clobbered.
The hot-hitting University baseball team was silenced by Louisville junior Andrew Warner in a Division II regional semifinal on June 2 at Thurman Munson Stadium in Canton.
A Mount Union commit who is 9-0 this season, Warner pitched a one-hitter, striking out 10, leading the Leopards to a 3-0 victory. The win puts Louisville in the regional championship game against Chardon on June 3 at 5 p.m.
Chardon defeated Chagrin Falls, 4-1, in the first of two regional semis on June 2.
PHOTOS: University vs. Louisville baseball, June 2, 2022
"We couldn't find any barrels (hitting) or get energy or momentum going," US coach Rob McNerney said.
The Preppers only barreled-up one Warner offering, and it ended up being one of the biggest momentum-shifters of the game. In a 1-0 game in the top of the fourth, University's Ryan Pattison crushed a liner up the middle that hit Warner flush in the back of his left hamstring as he tried to spin out of the way.
Warner located the ball and threw Pattison out at first, deflating University's side as much as he elevated the home team's side.
Warner walked off the pain, struck out the next batter and completed the one-hitter with relative ease, giving up only a looping fifth-inning single to center to US' Riley Penn.
"That was a big momentum shift," McNerney said. "If that goes through, that gives us a guy on base. But Louisville captured those moments."
Said Warner with a smile, "All their fans were going nuts and then it was like, "ahhh," he said of the momentum shift. "There was a lot of adrenaline there."
US had a couple of other opportunities, but they evaporated without runs crossing the plate. The Preppers had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth, but a runner was caught stealing and then a grounder to short ended the threat.
In the sixth, two errors put Jae Smith on third, but a strikeout by Warner got the Leopards out of the jam.
"Huge hats off to (Warner)," McNerney said. "He worked quick, commanded the zone, challenged our hitters and didn't mess around. We had a couple of opportunities, but didn't get the big hit we needed."
Louisville, on the other hand, did get the big hits. Connor Adelman put his team up, 1-0, in the first with a single that plated JJ Popick. Two innings later, Karson Siegfried's two-out double to right plated Popick to make it 2-0.
The Leopards added an insurance run in the sixth when Caleb Miller tripled and came home on a Connor Morley grounder, but the damage had already been done — and it's not like Warner needed more run support anyway the way he was dealing.
Evan Shapiro took the tough loss for University, scattering six hits and striking out 11.
"Evan, I watched him transform from a boy into a man this year," McNerney said of the 6-foot-7 junior. "I thought he did his job today. He struck out 11. They barreled up a few, but he kept us in the game.
"I thought if we limited them to two or three runs, I liked our chances. Unfortunately, it didn't work out."
University returns all of its starters except first baseman Ryan Tyler and left-fielder Jae Smith next year. McNerney pointed out his team won 17 games last year, a journey that ended in the district semifinal, and won 23 this year, a trek that ended in the Canton Regional.
The bar is already set high for next season.
"I think the future is bright," McNerney said. "This year we won 23 and were district champions for the first time in a long time. There's a lot to be proud of."
